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Title: The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys & Encounters 1987-1994 by Alexander Cockburn ISBN: 0-86091-664-2 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: January, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: An leftist account of politics and society in the US
Comment: The Golden Age Is In Us by Alexander Cockburn, Verso

A nationally syndicated columnist, Cockburn has published a diary that is part commentary on political and social events, part a record of his personal life between August 1987 and November 1994. Many of the entries are snippets from his columns and his reporting and excerpts from interviews (sometimes with him as the subject of an interview, sometimes with him as the interviewer). Besides the writing that has already been published, there's also letters from friends and family with an occasional enemy writing in, plus some miscellaneous stuff such as Cockburn's plea of not guilty for speeding.

As his readers know, Cockburn is a funny, thoughtful, and observant writer. Despite covering many of the same events as mainstream journalists, such as the presidential conventions and the campaign trail, Cockburn's opinions on these and other topics remain outside the mainstream. This is partially because he is an Irish citizen living in the US, but more because of his left wing politics (he's a Marxist). He's no fan of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Thatcher and Gorbachev and counts himself among the "imaginers of Utopias on hold." As many Americans celebrated the collapse of communism, Cockburn somberly reflects on the end of the Soviet Union, which he writes once acted as "a counterweight to US imperialism and the terminal savageries of the old European colonial powers."

While Cockburn laments the marginal political role leftists had during the late '80's and early 90's, the book shows that his opinions have some impact or are, at least, noticed. One day's column brings in next week's angry response. For example, in response to the many accusations of satanic child abuse brought against day care workers, Cockburn suggests that children be indicted for perjury when providing false testimony. Some lively correspondence follows. He also writes about the environment, JFK assassination conspiracy theorists (a letter is included from the director of JFK, Oliver Stone), the bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution, California's wild fires, political correctness, and the death of his mother.

When reading this book, one is reminded that a shrill tone of voice often characterizes the discourse of these issues. Cockburn avoids this shrillness and writes in a provocative, yet sane manner and with a strong sense of humor intact. None of the many topics Cockburn writes about are discussed exhaustively here and some readers might have preferred a book reprinting his columns from this time, not just the excerpts. It's less a attempt to be the final word on, say, the devastation of the Amazon rain forests than an attempt to evoke the era that made that devastation possible. It all works. For long time, this book will stand as a funny and interesting record of the events and controversies of the late 20th century.