ABSTRACT
Certain events characterize their times. The Watts riots in the 1960s, the hostage crisis in the late 1970s, the Mariel boatlift in 1980, and certainly the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 all left indelible images of their social and political contexts. The events themselves were not historically decisive, but they remain the anchor of memories, emotions, and opinions about the problems they represent.
