Dance the Eagle to Sleep

Dance the Eagle to Sleep is a 1970 novel by Marge Piercy.

The novel was published in 1970, at the height of "youth rebellion" and the "generation gap"; published around the time of the Kent State massacre. One character asks, "What animal kills off its own young?" and this is indeed one of the crucial questions of the book. The story takes place in the near future of 1970, after more restrictive laws have been passed and a nineteenth year of service (often military) has been decreed for youth. The story follows several different young people as they create a rebellion. Piercy's writing is sharp and intense in Dance, and her rage and fear and politics shine through as clearly as anywhere, although her hope is spread more thinly than in Woman on the Edge of Time.