STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, A GRAPHIC HISTORY By Harvey Pekar and others, illustrated by Gary Dumm and others Release date: Jan. 8 Hill and Wang/North Point Press $22

If we ever had a chance to stop the military-industrial complex that shapes our destructive-but-profitable foreign policy, it was in the '60s, and the people who could have done it were members of a radical organization known as Students for a Democratic Society.

A new book written (mostly) by Harvey Pekar and illustrated (mostly) by Gary Dumm, provides an exhaustive history of SDS, from its meager beginnings as a Michigan unionizing group to the height of its influence as a powerful organizing force of opposition against the war in Vietnam to its anti-climatic end in 1969, when it dissolved into many different meaningless factions. It's a tragedy about well-intentioned activists who eventually fell prey to the same vices (greed and power) that they fought so hard to eradicate from their national government. And Pekar is the perfect writer to tackle it.

His stark prose does not sentimentalize the heroics of SDS members nor does it criticize them for their failures. As always, Pekar is succinct and to the point here. His books, after all, are abstract brushings of situations, writing that lets the reader bring into it what he will. It's a very hippy, '60s, jazzy style - one that could frustrate readers searching for meaning in characters' thought bubbles. "Gee, maybe a revolution is possible," thinks one student, looking, presumably, at the reader while a demonstration occurs behind him.

The book, titled Students for a Democratic Society, A Graphic History (Hill and Wang/North Point Press, $22), is just over 200 pages, the first quarter of which is a strict history of SDS for those unfamiliar with its legend. The remaining chapters are vignettes told by former SDS members about their personal experiences within the group. These stories were gathered by editor Paul Buhle, founder and publisher of Radical America, and professor at Brown University. Back in the '60s, Buhle was also an active member of SDS. The stories Buhle tracked down are the most powerful part of the book and read at times like really good This American Life episodes.

In "Vignettes from New Orleans," Eric Gordon (who organized the Tulane University chapter of SDS) tells about how he was hounded by the FBI after he passed out anti-war leaflets and counseled draftees about options for avoiding conscription. The FBI eventually discovered where he was living and interviewed neighbors about his habits. The only neighbor who offered help was a klansman.

And in "Saving the Archives," by Buhle, we learn how the history of SDS was rescued by the Wisconsin Historical Society, which sent a van to gather documents from the national office after SDS finally folded. When the van is intercepted in front of SDS headquarters by the police, a quick-thinking driver pretends to be acting on behalf of the governor and before the police can sort it out, the van is loaded with boxes and on the road again.

"Kent State," by Wes Modes and Harvey Pekar, links the historic May 4 shootings to the final end of the New Left movement, the moment when student activists lost the war.

Though Ohio-based Dumm illustrates the majority of the book, including the entire history section, other artists, including Nick Thorkelson, Josh Brown, James Cennamo and Summer McClinton, do an excellent job bringing the later vignettes to life in complementary styles of their own.

And strangely, for a Pekar book, this one ends with the possibility of redemption. The final chapter, "SDS Revived," shows how the need for SDS returned as the "war on terror" began to emulate Vietnam, and explains to new revolutionaries how to start an SDS chapter of their very own.