The Harvard Square Mob
by Neil Mahoney is the story of one group of individuals plan a radical heist
to protest the Vietnam War and the aftermath. It’s 1969 and the Vietnam War still
ranges on and the Harvard Coalition is growing tired of the lack of progress of
Washington listening to their protests and concerns. A group of five
individuals, four students and a professor, break off from the Coalition to
plan their own protest, a type of protest that will grab the attention of the
nation. Frank, the professor and the story’s narrator, recounts the events
which changed their lives forever. The students of the group: Total, Abigail, Nathan
and Harry, all have their own motives and reasons to participate. When the plan
is successful, it is the aftermath that threatens to tear them apart and expose
them as the culprits. Will they figure out a way to stay silent and still bring
attention to the cause? Will they be found out and their protest be for naught?
The Harvard Square Mob
is an interesting story about a turbulent time in our country when a war ranges
on and no one supports the cause. Frank has the age that has seen the change in
the country. As Frank puts it a country that “sees ourselves as a heroic people
with a high historical purpose” and a country that “invented the national
paranoia of the communist menace” and made “national pride a religion.” These
quotes and many others hit home for me as they are eerily familiar to what is
going on today. However, the story itself is less about the war protests but
about these people who are bound by a secret and a paranoia when they think
they will be found out. The story started off slow but picks up quickly once
the heist occurs. It is a story of how a group of people protest for a greater
good but get caught up in their own individual concerns. I recommend The Harvard Square Mob.
The Harvard Square Mob
is available in
hardcover and eBook
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