Post-War Counterculture
The last half of the century responded to this post-war growth in people and ideas. A group now known as the Beats sprung up in the 50s—largely in reaction to the “conformity” and “complacency” many Americans clung to after the war (Richards 2007). Their radical views and opposition to traditional American values, together with their heavy drug use and devotion to art and music, paved the way for the hippie movement in the 60s. In 1967, the hippies took up in the bohemian Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco, attracting thousands to the area for what became the “Summer of Love,” [23]. The counterculture’s short-lived period of drugs, rock music, and “free love” gave way to very violent years in the 70s, which brought assassination attempts, murders, suicides, and insurrections [10].
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