How History Has a Way of Repeating Itself

I just started reading 1919 by John Dos Passos, which he penned in 1932 and is currently having a resurgence in popularity.  

Why now you might wonder? Well, one reason may be that it so closely parallels what is happening in 2019 America — the divide, the haves vs the have-nots, the lingering falsehood that America rewards all who give it their best shot.

This resonates with me because my own book The Haunting that Ended the Summer of Love inadvertently ends up doing the same thing in its own genre-bending-infused way.

It didn’t start out that way. I really was just thinking that this journal by Holly Rengsdorf had an interesting dynamic — connecting the hallucinogenic era with the paranormal — you know, what is reality?  However, as I delved deeper into her story and started researching, two things took shape:

1. The mid-1960s were much more repressed and unaccommodating toward diversity than I had envisioned. Even those who lived through it might have a memory block as to just how backwards it was.  And certainly those who came later probably have no concept of its profound limitations. Case in point:

• Women could not attend an Ivy League college
• Single women were not allowed to get a credit card
• Abortion was illegal in almost every state
• Job age discrimination was allowed until  late-1967
• A husband, by law, was allowed to rape his wife
• Interracial marriage was unconstitutional until mid-1967
• The Civil Rights Acts did not get passed until mid-1968
• In 1968, amid widespread backlash, inter-racial touching was almost edited out of a TV special when white singer Petula Clark clasped the arm of black singer Harry Belafonte
• The disabled were usually denied the opportunity to rent apartments or go to college
• Until late 1968, federal buildings were not required to be disabled-accessible. Theaters and other buildings were still allowed to simply have stairs (no ramps) and there were no curb cuts on street corners
• The first U.S. rapid transit system to accommodate wheelchairs was BART in late-1969

2. Heady stuff!  The second takeaway is the degree to which Holly’s journal chronicles “Hatred of the Other,” a concept that is overwhelming part of our current political dialogue.

So yes, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it is more relevant than ever. I’m a firm believer that knowing history can avert (or lessen) a great many downfalls.