The Original Read-In for Peace in Vietnam

Recorded on February 20, 1966, in New York City, the Read-In for Peace in Vietnam was a cultural event aimed not only at registering dissent against the American war in Vietnam, but also at “bearing witness to the viability of the American conscience.” The evening featured 29 writers and artists performing works relevant to the anti-war effort. Most notably, the roster of speakers included such giants of 20th-century American writing as Susan Sontag, Robert Lowell, Arthur Miller, and William Styron. The album of the event, released in 1967, contains representative excerpts from each speaker in order to convey the “essential mood or message” of the event. Liner notes offer a brief introduction to the record, as well as a transcript of the readings included on the album.

Track Listing

101	Read-In for Peace Statement	Oscar Sachs	01:02
102	Read-In for Peace Statement	Stanley Kauffman	01:28
103	Read-In for Peace Statement	Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee	03:38
104	Read-In for Peace Statement	Alan Dugan	01:40
105	A Walker in the City (excerpt)	Alfred Kazin	02:24
106	Read-In for Peace Statement	Susan Sontag	04:06
107	Vapor Trail Reflected in a Frog Pond (excerpt)	Galway Kinnell	02:42
108	Read-In for Peace Statement	Viveca Lindfors	02:17
109	We Are the Humans (excerpt)	Denise Levertov	01:43
110	Love Have Mercy Upon Us	William Gibson	02:24
111	Read-In for Peace Statement	Jules Feiffer	02:59
112	On the Birth of a Child	Louis Untermeyer	01:19
113	The Long March (excerpt)	William Styron	02:04
114	Juno and the Paycock (excerpt)	Maureen Stapleton	01:58
115	Read-In for Peace Statement	Tony Randall	01:58
116	False Entry (excerpt)	Hortense Calisher	01:42
117	Poem, 1961 (excerpt)	Robert Lowell	01:48
118	Fragment: The Pride of Man (excerpt)	Lenore Marshall	02:08
119	Read-In for Peace Statement	Arthur Miller	01:50
120	Reading-In (excerpt)	Joel Oppenheimer	01:48
121	The Search for Love (excerpt)	William Melvin Kelly	02:35
122	Read-In for Peace Statement	Walter Lowenfels	01:30
123	Read-In for Peace Statement	Norman Mailer	02:18
124	Catch-22 (excerpt)	Fritz Weaver	04:01
125	Read-In for Peace Statement	Muriel Rukeyser	01:36
126	Read-In for Peace Statement	Bernard Malamud	01:43
127	The Daughters of the Horse Leech (excerpt)	Stanley Kunitz	01:19
128	Read-In for Peace Statement	Lillian Hellman	02:15
129	Read-In for Peace Statement	Harvey Swados	02:16
130	closing remarks	Stanley Kauffman	00:30