* Charles A. Reich - The Greening of America (Bantam, 1971) - PDF

CHARLES A. REICH (1928-2019), a respected Yale Law School professor, published THE GREENING OF AMERICA in 1970.  Disenchanted with the limits of his life at Yale and with the law in general, Reich transmuted his discontent into a comprehensive critique of American society and a celebration of the student counterculture.  To the surprise of everyone involved and despite mixed reviews, it became a million-selling manifesto for a new and euphoric way of life, mixing sociological analysis with panegyrics to rock music, cannabis, and blue jeans.  Reich became—reluctantly—a celebrity.

THE GREENING connected with and explained a particular cultural moment—the last optimistic gasp of the student counterculture—just before it began to recede.  It provided a critique of American law, capitalism, and politics but went further than Reich's previous academic writings in its assessment of contemporary society.  With the rigor of an intellectual but the enthusiasm of a teenager, Reich criticized the dominant economic and political institutions in American life and celebrated the student counterculture for its new and different way of thinking—what Reich labeled "Consciousness III."  "This is the revolution of the new generation," he wrote. "It is both necessary and inevitable, and in time it will include not only youth, but all people in America."

The book inspired immediate controversy and was debated extensively on the opinion pages of the New York Times.  Although Reich enjoyed the attention of the limelight and appreciated the widespread dissemination of his ideas, he also was stung by the sharpness of some of the criticism and found the demands of celebrity life foreign and ultimately overwhelming.  He later admitted the book "did me in as far as academe was concerned."

In a 2010 interview, Reich reflected on the book's legacy and acknowledged that the present generation's problems were far more concrete—such as the need to find a job—than the spiritual angst that defined the Sixties. But, he added, the two were related: "Whether you're complaining about spiritual emptiness or material emptiness, you're ultimately complaining about the same system that's creating both kinds of emptiness."

Also included:  "Charles Reich's Journey from the Yale Law Journal to the New York Times Best-Seller List: The Personal History of the Greening of America", (2008) 52 NY L. Sch. L. Rev. 387.

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