It tells us about this country, its social divisions, its attitudes to everything from authority to romantic love to male friendship; it is even larger than the sum of its parts.
The Long ’68 isn’t long-sighted enough to notice this ironic outcome. Vinen takes shorter views, and prefers crunching numbers: history for him is a Sahara of arid statistics.
Though the book is not for readers unfamiliar with the historical terrain, Vinen provides a well-written, deeply considered work on a year that seems increasingly immediate in both its impact and implications.