This next book comes all the way from beautiful British Columbia. Written by one Kevin Vowles, it was a gift from the author when he kindly gave me a ride from Victoria International Airport into the city proper. I'd told him that I was a student at the university, and that I was studying English. So, author that he is, Vowles' response was to hand over a copy of his book, with a request to review it. Well, nearly four years later, that review begins now.
21st Century Hippies: Activists in Pursuit of Peace and Social Justice is a book that's easy to dismiss. Its simple cover possibly suggesting that what lay within is just more rambling from your stereotypical free-love promoting, dope-toting, never voting Hippie.
However, Vowles actively seeks to turn this assumption on its head. He does so without directly countering the popular perception, however. Instead, Vowles opts to simply show how much of modern activism had its start with the methods of the Hippies of the 1960s by way of introduction.
21st Century Hippies quickly drops the act of being a history book, though, as it becomes more of an informational "how to" once the five core sections of the book are reached. Vowles takes the field of activism and breaks it into five categories: Human Rights, the Environment, War, Poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Having read the first of these, Vowles' expertise continues to be clear, and, relative to the book's introduction, the editorial issues are fewer.
Keep watch over this blog to find out if he can manage to hold his stride through the remaining four categories.
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