Book excerpt: This book looks at daily life during a pivotal decade in American history: the 1960s. It covers the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement as well as counterculture and protest movements. The 1960s saw the assassination of a popular president; a confusing and unpopular war that claimed the lives of thousands of American combatants; the passage of a national civil rights act that mandated equal rights across all races; countless violent exchanges among Americans with polarized views on the Vietnam War and civil rights; and through it all, the rise of a counterculture movement that challenged long-established American social and cultural traditions. Daily Life in the 1960s Counterculture looks at the 1960s from the perspective of Americans who, despite their best efforts to live normal lives, could not escape the tension, conflict, and controversy that surrounded them. The war and the violence associated with protests of it came at great personal cost to many American families. This book looks those social and cultural changes, examining such topics as the sexual revolution; recreational drug culture; the roles of film, television, and music; and more.