Reading Todd Gitlin's book The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage was a major moment in my development as a historian. Gitlin's colorful, rigorous description of that turbulent decade heavily influenced my decision to study postwar American politics when I began my graduate studies in 2004. I recently sat down in his office at Columbia University to talk about his experience as president of Students for a Democratic Society in the mid-1960s, his personal trajectory as an activist and academic, and his thoughts on Occupy Wall Street and the contemporary American political landscape.