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Riot: A 1960s Love Story Paperback – September 8, 2015

by Charles S. Isaacs (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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Two young lovers find each other just as the Vietnam War, the Antiwar Movement, and the Black Power Movement near their explosive peaks. Excitement, danger and heartache lie ahead.

It’s September 1967. Steve Harris – white, idealistic, naïve -- begins his freshman year. During that year, he will fight to end the war, fall in love, confront painful truths about his family, and be jailed and beaten by police. Through this crucible, he emerges with a transformed consciousness, of the world and of himself.His awakening begins with a rousing antiwar speech delivered by Emma Gold, a Depression-era radical. When Emma introduces him to young Cat Crawford -- inter-racial, brilliant and exotically beautiful – his bewitching is complete. The two students’ instant friendship blossoms before long into a passionate love affair. Their bond is tested, though, by the mounting demands of the times, and by their own deep-seated psychological issues.

1968 is marked by campus unrest, urban rebellion, assassinations, and political violence that leads the two into clashes with the Chicago Police and the National Guard. The story builds to a heartrending climax during the street battles surrounding the Democratic National Convention.

This is a complex, fast-paced journey on an emotional roller coaster, punctuated by flashes of self-discovery, and bursting with political and sexual passions.

"A deftly crafted and complexly layered novel of immense passion and divisive politics that is a quite accurate portrayal of the events and issues backgrounding this emotionally dazzling story from beginning to end, "Riot: A 1960s Love Story" establishes author Charles S. Isaacs as a truly extraordinary and gifted novelist. Very highly recommended."

-- Midwest Book Review

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  1. Print length
    457 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    September 8, 2015
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 1.15 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0692486968
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0692486962
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A deftly crafted and complexly layered novel of immense passion and divisive politics that is a quite accurate portrayal of the events and issues backgrounding this emotionally dazzling story from beginning to end, "Riot: A 1960s Love Story" establishes author Charles S. Isaacs as a truly extraordinary and gifted novelist. Very highly recommended."
-- Midwest Book Review

About the Author

CHARLES S. ISAACS has been a schoolteacher, college professor, social activist, community organizer, financial analyst, gambler, real estate consultant, storyteller and occasional journalist. His undergraduate studies were in Mathematics (LIU-Brooklyn), after which he attended the University of Chicago Law School, living on the city's South Side, when and where this story is set. His later graduate work was in the Social Sciences, earning an M.A. (New School for Social Research) and a Ph.D. (The Union Institute & University). His published work encompasses fiction, poetry and award-winning non-fiction. He currently resides in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harpers Ferry Press; 1st edition (September 8, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 457 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0692486968
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0692486962
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.47 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.15 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

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Charles S. Isaacs

Charles S. Isaacs

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CHARLES S. ISAACS has been a schoolteacher, college professor, social activist, community organizer, financial analyst, ghostwriter, Congressional aide, gambler, real estate consultant, storyteller and occasional journalist. His undergraduate studies were in Mathematics (LIU-Brooklyn), after which he attended the University of Chicago Law School. His later graduate work was in the Social Sciences, earning an M.A. (New School for Social Research) and a Ph.D. (The Union Institute & University). In recent decades, he has been a commercial real estate broker and adviser, exclusively representing New York non-profits.

His published works include fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Recent speaking engagements have been at the CUNY Graduate Center, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the American Educational Research Association and the Cornwall Public Library.

He currently resides in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
17 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sherry
5.0 out of 5 stars Another free book
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2022
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and a very quick read
One person found this helpful
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Timothy Baldwin
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story, slow start
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024
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The story starts out slow, setting the stage for what is truly a remarkable love story. But it also gets bogged down with details about the war and anti-war protest. Nonetheless, this is still a great read for those interested in this time period.
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Susan Morreale
5.0 out of 5 stars I thoroughly enjoyed this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2015
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It has engaging characters, plenty of action and suspense, romance, and history. I feel like I got to know the characters on a deeply personal level because they are so relatable and interesting. There is just the right balance of fiction and historical fact ... you are reading a page-turning novel, while at the same time learning so much about the time period. I highly recommend this book!
2 people found this helpful
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Susan Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars 1960s - Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2016
The late 1960s were a tumultuous time in American history. There were protests for women's rights, civil rights and anti-war demonstrations. Nowhere was the feeling of unrest and unhappiness with the current status quo of American life felt more strongly than on the college campuses. This novel takes place in 1967 - 68 in Chicago and tells the story leading up to the student protest at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

In 1967 when Steve started college at Midway in Chicago, he was just a kid trying to avoid being drafted. He wasn't a particularly great student but he knew that he didn't want to go to Vietnam and college was the best way to avoid going. It isn't too long after he arrives on campus that he meets Emma, an older woman who runs a book store near campus and has been a radical organizer for years and the person who helps her at the store, Cat, a black female college student. Through Emma and Cat, Steve meets many of the anti-war and civil rights members on campus and realizes that there is so much more wrong with the war than he had originally thought. He gets very involved with the movements on campus and he falls in love with Cat.

The author does a fantastic job of making this book very readable yet full of facts about the history of the time. There is reference to many of the situations and people that were part of what was really going on and it is interspersed with Steve and Cat's story in a way that makes it all very interesting. Sometimes a book like this with so much history is slowed down by all of the facts but this book is very readable and keeps your interest. I must admit that even though I knew the outcome of the political part of the story, I wasn't bored at all with the facts because they were presented so well as part of the story of Steve and Cat.

Whether you were around during the 60s and remember what went on or you are younger and want to learn what you parents or grandparents were doing back then, I highly recommend this book. It's very interesting and well written and has two main characters who are so real that you will end up caring and thinking about them long after you close the book for the final time.
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SteveB
5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Isaacs Brings Chicago in 1968 Vividly to Life in New Novel
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2016
First time novelist Charles Isaacs vividly brings to life the student and anti-Vietnam War movements in Riot: A 1960s Love Story. Set in Chicago in the critical year of 1968, Isaacs creates a compelling modern love story between Steve Harris, a naive young white man and first-year undergraduate at fictitious Midway University (read University of Chicago), and his slightly older interracial girlfriend, Cat Crawford, a brilliant, beautiful, and gifted mathematics major at Midway. Both of them and their all-knowing mentor and mother figure, Emma Gold (a wonderfully drawn Old Left militant), become a kind of extended political and emotional family. Drawn into the escalating conflicts of the antiwar, antiracism, and antimainstream political movements in the fateful year of 1968 that witnessed both the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations, the rise of the McCarthy and Robert Kennedy candidacies and the decision by President Lyndon Johnson not to stand for reelection, and the vicious attacks by the infamous Chicago police on demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Steve and Cat struggle to sustain their love in the midst of the tumultuous events of the day. Isaacs has written a compelling piece of historical fiction, which is scrupulously researched and places real historical figures and individuals inside actual Left movements and parties and has them interact with the handful of fictional characters that the author has created in the novel. A recommended read for anyone interested in Left politics of the 1960s, what the city of Chicago looked and felt like in that epochal year, and how love finally wins out over the forces of darkness and political repression.
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Top reviews from other countries

fantasy reader
5.0 out of 5 stars A timely reminder that history keep repeating itself
Reviewed in Canada on January 19, 2024
Verified Purchase
Set against the turbulent politics of the 1960s, Riot is indeed a love story but so much more. Steve and Cat come together as college students, and must balance their political awakening, their studies and their passion for one another during tumultuous times.

The writing is smooth, the characters well-drawn and engaging, and the first person narrative is done so well, with highly detailed descriptions of important events of the era, that this reader wondered how much is truth and how much fiction.

Instead of studying ancient history, young people would be well served to have an understanding of recent history---of endemic racism and pervasive corruption at the highest levels of government in their own country.

More than half a century has passed since the events described in this book, but we are yet again watching the same kind of corruption enabling the slaughter of innocents in a foreign country. This book is a timely reminder of the need for social equity and social justice, and for protest in the face of corrupt government.
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AlwaysReading
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
This was an emotional read due to the themes and political aspects.

Not only were there disturbing themes such as rape, sexism and racism, but also the way governments decide who should live or die because of their agendas. Just because a government is ridiculously obsessed about how other countries lead their lives, it doesn't give them the right to invade...but of course, it's about power.

Unfairly, unjustly and based on lies, Vietnam is invaded and divided. I liked how the points of view were portrayed, e.g. 'Imagine if you lived in a village...'

The love story was quite well done as well as how the activism was based on fact despite a few fictional inclusions.

It certainly highlighted corruption, greed and the grabs for power.

Well-written and thought-provoking.

Worth a look.
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