CONTENTS
Chapter
1
Foreword
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Introduction
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World Map
11
Historical Background on Woodstock
1. Woodstock Music and Art Fair 1969:
Three Days of Peace and Music
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Douglas Cooke
In the summer of 1969, nearly half a million
young people gathered on a farm in upstate
New York to listen to a historic collection of
American and British musicians. A music and
social analyst discusses the origins and legacy
of Woodstock, which has become part of
America’s cultural vocabulary and the symbol
of a generation.
2. Woodstock’s Unconventional Festival
Security
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Wes Pomeroy, Stanley Goldstein, Michael
Lang, and Lee Blumer
An oral historian interviews the people who
developed the security strategy that helped
make Woodstock a peaceful event. Festival
producers did not want an armed force and
hired a progressive police officer who agreed
with their security philosophy and a community activist familiar with managing current
social tensions.
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3. The Festival Site Moves to Max
Yasgur’s Farm
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Michael Lang
One of Woodstock’s producers explains how,
within days of city leaders banning the music
festival from the original site, he found a new,
more idyllic location. He describes the dairy
farmer who leased them the land and helped
them get local approval for the event.
4. Woodstock as a Coming-Out Party
for Hippies
58
Steve Lerner
A journalist from an ultraliberal New York
newspaper describes the festival and the
people who attended. Drugs and nudity were
commonplace. But despite the intolerable
conditions, the hippies from across the nation
who gathered at the festival conducted themselves better than expected.
5. Dire Prophecies Before, and High
Spirits During, Woodstock
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Alistair Cooke
A British journalist reporting from New York
explains that despite dire predictions of riots,
the young people who attended the festival
enjoyed the music and behaved well. The
locals were nevertheless happy to see them
leave as they would any invading army.
6. The Impact of Weather on the
Woodstock Festival
Sean Potter
A meteorologist explains how rain prevented
planners from erecting ticket booths and
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fences in time to limit entrance to the festival
site to ticket holders. The rain also affected
performances during the festival. While the
rain brought some in the crowd together, others left early in misery.
Chapter
2
Controversies Surrounding Woodstock
1. The Woodstock Generation and Rock
Music Are Dangerous to American
Culture
Wall Street Journal
In an editorial published shortly after
Woodstock, a conservative national newspaper argues that the hippie counterculture
poses a serious threat to American culture.
The widespread use of drugs and their orgiastic rock music reflected social and cultural
decline, they claimed.
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2. Woodstock Participants Were Peaceful
and Community-Minded
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Barnard L. Collier
A New York Times journalist reports from
Woodstock that, despite widespread drug use,
poor sanitation, a lack of food and water, and
the need for additional doctors and security,
the young festivalgoers behaved well and kept
the peace.
3. Woodstock Planted Seeds of Activism
That Persist Today
Stephen Dalton
Based on his interviews with Woodstock
producers and performers, a British journalist asserts that the seeds of the social and
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e­ nvironmental movements were planted at
the festival. Current green and organic movements evolved from counterculture philosophies, and the hippies’ peace movement continues to flourish.
4. The Fans at Woodstock Were
Outcasts Looking for Belonging
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Joseph Sobran
A conservative commentator claims that
Woodstock was not a cultural milestone but
a gathering of conformists looking for likeminded people. Wearing the same clothes and
speaking similar slang, hippies were hardly
rebels, he says. Moreover, free love and drug
use do not solve social and personal problems
but create them.
5. Some Festivalgoers Continue to
Promote the Ideals of the Woodstock
Generation
111
Paul Lieberman
An investigative reporter maintains that he
and his fellow social activists, who bought
a secondhand bus to travel together to
Woodstock, continue their activism today. He
tells their Woodstock story and explains what
he and his fellow “pilgrims” are doing today to
make the world a better place.
6. The Woodstock Festival Is Now More
Myth than Reality
122
Jacob Bernstein
The media created Woodstock’s mythology
after the fact, claims a business and fashionmarketing journalist. At the time, the media
did not anticipate the enormity of the event.
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As a result, the media have unjustly privileged
the Woodstock generation’s history, which has
effectively trivialized the experience for future
generations.
7. Woodstock Was More Complex than the Myth
to Which It Has Been Reduced
129
Maurice Isserman
A history professor and Woodstock veteran
argues that Woodstock was not a time of
innocence. It reflected the upheaval of the
1960s, in which young people fought for
civil rights and opposed the Vietnam War.
Woodstock, in fact, inspired many to participate in the mass demonstrations that followed.
8. The Woodstock Festival Site Has
Historical and Cultural Significance
Worth Commemorating
Michael William Doyle
A history professor claims that Woodstock
represents a significant event in US history.
An impressive gathering of rock musicians
performed, and the young people attending
were peaceful, despite the terrible conditions. Now part of the cultural vocabulary,
Woodstock symbolizes the counterculture
movement of the 1960s and is thus worth
commemorating.
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9. Views on the Legacy of Woodstock
Vary Significantly
151
Jerry Shriver
A music critic asserts that among people
polled by a national newsmagazine, views on
the legacy of Woodstock vary. Some claim it
was a paradise that inspired change. Others
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argue it was an epic disaster that reflected the
hedonism of a generation. Still others maintain that Woodstock was simply a way
to make money.
10. Advertisers Use Woodstock Nostalgia
to Target Baby Boomers
159
Amy Jacques
The editor of a public relations magazine
explains that parallels between the uncertainties of 1969 and 2009 have prompted some to
market Woodstock nostalgia to baby boomers—the generation that attended Woodstock.
Some think this tactic is harmless, but in the
eyes of others, rebranding Woodstock diminishes its significance.
11. The Spontaneity of Woodstock Cannot
Be Reproduced
167
Jason Laure
A freelance photojournalist and Woodstock
veteran claims that at the time no one knew
the festival would become a milestone of the
era. Efforts to reproduce Woodstock have
been unsuccessful because no amount of planning can duplicate its spontaneity.
12. The Woodstock 1994 Festival Reflects
Cultural Changes
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Stephen Rodrick
Using satire to compare the cultures of 1969
and 1994, an investigative journalist argues
that Woodstock 1994 bore no similarity to
Woodstock 1969. Outrageous prices and mass
commercialization dominated the latter event,
where the audience behaved more like terrorists than hippies, he says.
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Chapter
3
Personal Narratives
1. A Woman Shares Her Woodstock
Experience as a Teen
177
Susan Reynolds
A journalist describes how her Woodstock
experience as a teen changed her worldview.
United by antiwar sentiment and music, she
and the other young people at Woodstock
believed they could make a difference. After
Woodstock she actively opposed the Vietnam
War and became a reporter.
2. A Woodstock Musician Recounts the
Experience
184
David Crosby
Admittedly high on marijuana, a Woodstock
musician describes the atmosphere of goodwill amid all of the mud. He admits that he
and the rest of the group were a little afraid
before their star-making performance, because
they were trying a new sound in front of fellow musicians that they greatly respected.
3. A French Visitor Recalls His Favorite
Woodstock Moments
190
Francis Dumaurier
A French student shares his Woodstock experience on his first trip to the United States. He
reveals many magical musical moments, his
feeling of being among kindred spirits, and
his pride at having been part of an event so
momentous it can never be duplicated.
4. A Photographer and His Subjects
Recall an Iconic Woodstock Moment
Timothy Dumas
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Quoting the embracing couple and the photographer, an art writer relates the events that
led to the famous photo that appears on the
cover of the Woodstock sound track album.
5. A Woodstock Festivalgoer Explains Why
the Experience Cannot Be Reproduced
199
Pip Klein
A business journal publisher and Woodstock
veteran compares her 1969 experience to
a 1998 commemorative concert. Although
much about her life and American culture
has changed, she still enjoys reminiscing
about her Woodstock experience.
Chronology
204
For Further Reading
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Index
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