Downward's Reviews > The Strawberry Statement: Notes of a College Revolutionary

there's something interesting here in that james simon kunen seems, as a nineteen year old, fairly caught up in being objective here and not making a hero out of himself (which is good because he's not, remotely); the protests at columbia in 1968, over the IDA's relationship with Columbia as well as the school's attempt to place a gym in a park, were confusing and not well thought out. they were an expression of rage by smart kids who were still kids. kunen here captures the energy and boredom, the at-odds feelings of that protest and the occupation of the dean's office. In the first third of the book. At which point the book forgets what it's about and decenters itself, losing setting to a diary of abstractions and specifics that aren't really related to the abstraction. it mirrors smart young person's life pretty accurately: boredom with bursts of anger and desire to change things, tied down with an afterward to is ultimately depressing as hell but what at the time seems like a statement of purpose.