Theodore Roszak | Coined 'counterculture,' 77

Theodore Roszak, 77, the author, scholar, and critic who brought the term

counterculture

into the mainstream as he documented the social upheavals of the 1960s, died July 5 of cancer in Berkeley, Calif.

The longtime professor's best-selling The Making of a Counter Culture was published in 1969 and gave a label to the assortment of youth movements upending life on college campuses and beyond. "People were trying to figure out, 'What is this thing that has come upon us?' He named it," Columbia University historian Todd Gitlin said. "That's why the book was a best-seller."

As author or editor of more than a dozen works of nonfiction, including The Cult of Information and The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology, Mr. Roszak explored not just life in the '60s but also broader issues of humanity's relationship with technology and nature. He also wrote several popular science-fiction novels delving into similar themes.

His last book, The Making of an Elder Culture: Reflections on the Future of America's Most Audacious Generation, published in 2009, called on baby boomers to resurrect the spirit of the counterculture in their later years.

Born in Chicago, he graduated from high school in Los Angeles and received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, before earning his doctorate in English history from Princeton University. He began teaching history at California State University-East Bay in 1963 and remained there for more than 30 years. He is survived by his wife, daughter, and granddaughter. - AP