The Berkeley Poets Cooperative: A History of the Times

This is a collection of thirty-two essays, memoirs, and poems about tumultuous times. Universities were under attack and free speech was in question. The byword of the culture rang out, “Question authority.” It was also a time to come together and discuss such things as the worth of a word in a poem. The young writers who started The Berkeley Poets Cooperative decided to have a say-so about what was important in literature and in the culture. The combined voices form a patchwork quilt of a unique era in Berkeley, California 1960-1990. Why revisit literary history? Nearly half a century since the founding of the Berkeley Poets Cooperative, the difficult times have returned. The Great Recession of 2007, the rise in poverty, a rise of the super-rich, inequality of the 1% versus the 99% –the culture is beginning to fear the closing down of the “American dream.” The intention is to share this amazing period in history, from the point of view of poets and writers who were there and lived the experience, and remind the reader of the optimism of “the way we were,” when everything seemed possible.

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