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LETTERS TO A YOUNG ACTIVIST by Todd Gitlin. New York: Basic Books, 2003. 169 pp. $22.50.
Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, is widely known for his role in the 1960s student movement as president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). While Gitlin has written extensively on the media, the culture wars, and the New Left, in his most recent book he returns to the topic of student activism. Gitlin's Letters to a Young Activist is the latest addition to "The Art of Mentoring" series inspired by Rainer Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet.
In Letters to a Young Activist, Gitlin emulates Rilke, addressing eleven didactic messages to the next generation of young activists. Gitlin's topics, which range from "Patriotism without Embarrassment" to the "Burden of History," are bolstered by his extensive knowledge of fields including sociology, media studies, and history. The strength of the collection, however, lies in Gitlin's willingness to set theory aside, reflect on personal experience, and speak directly to the reader. As Gitlin explains in the letter "On Duty, Love and Adventure, or Some Leaps of Faith,"
I will draw on a strong kind of knowledge that lacks the pleasing click of a theoretical box...