THE STUDENT RADICALS AND NEW LEFTISTS of the 1960s and 1970s are now the ruling elite of the U.S. They naturally celebrate themselves as the heroes of that period of history. But neither then, nor now are they representatives of the great majority of the American people. They were affluent brats who knew nothing of ordinary middle-and working-class Americans.

Joseph Scotchie's memoir recreates the normal world that most of us grew up in during that period, as he did in Asheville, North Carolina, and in periods with grandparents in Youngstown, Ohio.

He also makes clear how many of us came to reject to the wreckage the New Leftists inflicted on the Christian morality and patriotism of a normal healthy society. And thus became "paleoconservatives."

Joseph Scotchie's previous books include Writing on the Southern Front: Authentic Conservatism for Our Time; The Paleoconservatives; Thomas Wolfe Revisited; Barbarians in the Saddle: An Intellectual Biography of Richard M. Weaver; Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism; Street Corner Conservatism: Patrick J. Buchanan and His Times; A Gallery of Ashevillians; and The Vision of Richard Weaver.