Eleven books to help understand the 1960s

Mike Bond has been called the “master of the existential thriller” by the BBC and “one of the 21st century’s most exciting authors” by the Washington Times. He is a bestselling novelist, environmental activist, international energy expert, war and human rights correspondent and award-winning poet who has lived and worked in many remote and dangerous parts of the world.

Bond's latest novel is America.

At LitHub he tagged eleven books that influenced his 1960s experience, including:

Eldridge Cleaver, Soul On Ice

If this book doesn’t blow your mind then nothing will. I met Eldridge Cleaver after he got out of Folsom Prison in late 1966. At nineteen he’d been sentenced to two years in Soledad for marijuana possession, then got sent to San Quentin and Folsom, and finally got out thanks to the magnificent lawyer Beverly Axelrod and Ramparts. I’d done some prison time by then, but totally agreed with Eldridge that we had to listen to Malcolm X and find a way for Blacks and Whites to live together – which we should do with love and respect.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Soul on Ice is among Jeff Tamarkin's thirteen books that every hippie owned.

--Marshal Zeringue