Revolution in the Air

Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che is a history book by Max Elbaum. First published in 2002, it was reissued in 2006 and 2018. The book chronicles a post-1968 offshoot of the New Left, in which a racially diverse group of young American radicals embraced an ultra-left Marxist-Leninist variant that Elbaum refers to as "Third World Marxism". This political mobilization, which he took part in, was embodied in the New Communist Movement (NCM). Revolution in the Air charts the rise and demise of the NCM, analyzes its strengths and weaknesses, and gives the author's retrospective assessment of the lessons learned.