Polarizing America: Chicago 1968

KEVIN BOYLE is the William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University. Years ago, he stumbled across an obscure photo of a Chicago neighborhood celebrating the Fourth of July 1961. From that image – and the story it tells – he’s built The Shattering, his new history of the 1960s. His previous book, Arc of Justice, won the National Book Award for non-fiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He’s also the author of The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1948-1968 and co-author of Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, and other newspapers and magazines. He and his wife, Victoria Getis, now live in Evanston, IL with their manic one-year old Australian shepherd and, from time to time, with their marvelous daughters, Abby and Nan.

HEATHER HENDERSHOT is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University. Her most recent books are When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America and Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line.