Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow

Boom! is amazing and compelling. It reminds you of all the important issues that were fought for in the 60s and 70s and ties it to present day in a interesting way.

I'm writing this in the wake of an online chat with Brokaw where he was kind enough to answer some of my questions as well as those of other participants there. It was one short hour which simply flew by!. Although I had the book in "traditional" form already, I got the Kindle version as well so I could share it with others tomorrow, along with the chat itself (I'd name the site but I don't know if that is allowed here) As I already knew -but Brokaw reiterated in the chat - the book was a type of "virtual reunion" of people who'd lived through the Sixties and were open to revealing their thoughts and changes forty years after those pivotal years. The book is aptly titled Boom! because there were true shock waves as major changes rippled quickly - and sometimes tore- through our culture. Brokaw focused on major areas such as feminism and the women's movement,politics (including the Democratic identity crisis), Vietnam, race relations and racism, assassinations, etc. The famous, infamous and anonymous are interviewed or lend their voices to this book, making it more accessible, not at all dry and very lively. Brokaw noted that he wished he could have covered such topics as the Evangelical movement and the changes in journalism so if you get this book, please be aware that HE is aware of what was not covered. I think that including more areas might have watered down the book so I think this was a wise choice. I think he did a superb job, especially with the format, including firsthand accounts from those who'd been in Vietnam as well as notable names like Gloria Steinem, Judy Collins (her albums seemed to be everywher and her songs were a backdrop to my days), Kris Kristofferson, Jann Wenner (of Rolling Stone magazine), Dick Gregory and many, many others. He doesn't forget the tragedies of that time, either, and quotes both Dylan and Lennon in his opening to the book. If you are looking at a definitive book on the Sixties, you'll find a stance here that isn't decided about the final impact of those years. Even forty years later, the author writes that it will take longer to see the Sixties with perspective. Again, I agree. As a member of the 60s generation, I couldn't put this book down, especially as as I fully agreed with one point made by Brokaw- that the Sixties "blindsided" us with quick and startling changes, from the variety of drugs available eveywhere to women's lib. It is hard for me to understand how others see this time, the ones who didn't live through it, but I felt this book did a super job of encompassing many of the key events and it certainly set off waves of memories in my brain. I suggest you pick up a copy of this, sit down and let this author take you back in time. I got a shock when I saw the words "forty years ago" in print. It truly seems like only yesterday!

As a card carrying member of the class of '68 I certainly should be familiar with everything in this book, but even for me there were a few surprises - things I forgot, some I never knew and even some I'd rather forget. Nevertheless Brokaw's writing was as complete as any other book about the era (Kurlansky's 1968 for instance). I once heard 1968 referred to as a "crack in time." To those of us who came of age in that time period everything in our,lives seemed to change overnight and the epic events that seemed to occur almost daily shaped evrything. I still remember the anxiety all of my friends were experiencing waiting for their draft notice after graduation and how hard we all prayed the war would end before we were inducted. Working class kids worried about those things, but the "silver spoon brigade" never related. This isn't required reading for the boomer generation, but it should be for the children and grandchildren of the boomers because they learn none of these event in any depth in school anymore. As parents we all experienced the blank looks from our kids when we spoke about those days and the horrible events when all they had heard about the sixties was it was "the summer of love", or sex, drugs and rock and roll. Brokaws book will give them a better view without being preachy or too academic. Then maybe Bush should have it read to him so he will know what he missed, and what men like McCain, Murtha, and Kerry went through. And for those who lived through it they all know what it means when someone says: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Are you listening Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, ETAL?

I am reading Boom and am enjoying it immensely. As a former classmate of Tom and his wife Meredith at the University of South Dakota, I recognize many of the names that he mentions from this era, especially the mention of Gene Kimmel and his wife Mary Lou, for I knew them well. The juxtaposition of the rich and famous with ordinary people is a testimony to Brokaw's writing skills and I suspect that if researchers did some of the work for him, in the final analysis, he was his own superb editor. One fact that needs correction, however, is that Tom was part of the Boomer generation. He was pre-boomer, and thus had part of his sensibilities in the Greatest Generation era. However his work put him right in the center of the enormous changes that occurred in the 60s, both good and bad. His understanding of both eras is important and undoubtedly helped him write this book. Tom's unique perspectives make Boom an important contribution to the literature about the '60. He has consistently taken his responsibilities seriously, in the tradition of Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and other great broadcast journalists and continues to do so with his books. Keep up the good work. Highly recommended.

The Boomers, the rebels of the sixties, are the establishment of today. They're the leaders. The power. But they're still fighting the old battles that they never quite got over or outgrew. I came of age in the sixties. But I was so busy marching and rebelling and yelling "Power to the People" and organizing various things that I didn't get a good look around me. I think I was in a coma throughout the entire decade. So it was good to read what happened in this book by Brokaw. The Boomers are an interesting group in many ways. They're powerful and rich and they still are self-involved. They are a very important part of the population, even as they age. This book documents where the Boomers came from, where they went and where they are. Perhaps those readers who do not remember them as young, will learn why they're such an important generation and, moreover, why they act as they do today. Americans were walking on the moon and dying in Vietnam, by far one of the most unpopular wars there ever was. It was, indeed, a war that defined a generation. If you want to understand the Boomers, you will love this book. If nothing else, this is a wonderful chronicle of the generation and a book that brings back to life a very important part of our history, a uniquely American history. Highly recommended.