I wonder how Americans of a certain vintage explain 1968 to their grandchildren. “Well, kid, we had an assassination of a public figure. Then another. No, not those two. Those were gunned down earlier in the decade. Also, a segregationist won five states in the presidential election. Riots happened from which some cities never recovered. The Democrats held a convention in which the police rioted. Vietnam? Such were the protests, the president, who had angled for the job since he was a Texas road digger, relinquished it without a fight. Elvis’s comeback was quite the tonic, but still.”
我想知道某個年代的美國人是如何向他們的孫子解釋1968年的。「嗯，孩子，我們有一位公衆人物被暗殺了。然後又有一位。不，不是那兩位。那兩位在十年前就被槍殺了。此外，一位種族隔離主義者在總統選舉中贏得了五個州。騷亂髮生後，一些城市再也沒有恢復過來。民主黨召開大會，警察在會上鬧事。越南？抗議活動如此激烈，這位從得克薩斯州的掘路工起家並一直謀求這個職位的總統，毫無抵抗地放棄了它。貓王(Elvis)的復出是一劑強心劑，但依然無濟於事。」