Product Description

In The Greatest Generation, his landmark bestseller, Tom Brokaw eloquently evoked for America what it meant to come of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Now, in Boom!, one of America’s premier journalists gives us an epic portrait of another defining era in America as he brings to life the tumultuous Sixties, a fault line in American history. The voices and stories of both famous people and ordinary citizens come together as Brokaw takes us on a memorable journey through a remarkable time, exploring how individual lives and the national mindset were affected by a controversial era and showing how the aftershocks of the Sixties continue to resound in our lives today. In the reflections of a generation, Brokaw also discovers lessons that might guide us in the years ahead.

Boom! One minute it was Ike and the man in the grey flannel suit, and the next minute it was time to “turn on, tune in, drop out.” While Americans were walking on the moon, Americans were dying in Vietnam. Nothing was beyond question, and there were far fewer answers than before.

Published as the fortieth anniversary of 1968 approaches, Boom! gives us what Brokaw sees as a virtual reunion of some members of “the class of ’68,” offering wise and moving reflections and frank personal remembrances about people’s lives during a time of high ideals and profound social, political, and individual change. What were the gains, what were the losses? Who were the winners, who were the losers? As they look back decades later, what do members of the Sixties generation think really mattered in that tumultuous time, and what will have meaning going forward?

Race, war, politics, feminism, popular culture, and music are all explored here, and we learn from a wide range of people about their lives. Tom Brokaw explores how members of this generation have gone on to bring activism and a Sixties mindset into individual entrepreneurship today. We hear stories of how this formative decade has led to a recalibrated perspective–on business, the environment, politics, family, our national existence.

Remarkable in its insights, profoundly moving, wonderfully written and reported, this revealing portrait of a generation and of an era, and of the impact of the 1960s on our lives today, lets us be present at this reunion ourselves, and join in these frank conversations about America then, now, and tomorrow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137156 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 688 pages

From Publishers Weekly
There's less heroism in Brokaw's profiles of the baby boom cohort than there was in his salute to The Greatest Generation, but there's still plenty of drama. Almost everyone the author interviews (famous boomers like Arlo Guthrie, Hillary Clinton and Karl Rove along with many unsung contemporaries) describes a personal journey through the upheavals of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, women's liberation, the counterculture, the rise of the New Left or the birth of the New Right. Callow students became radicalized, restless housewives forged careers, musicians spiraled into addiction, disgusted erstwhile liberals trekked rightward, everyone—except Dick Cheney, Brokaw mentions—questioned authority. Unlike Brokaw's celebratory and elegiac previous book, this one is steeped in retrospective ambivalence; conservatives look back on the era with disdain, and even unreconstructed lefties feel misgivings about its excesses. As an NBC correspondent, Brokaw was a keen (if careful nonparticipant) observer of the '60s and contributes his own neutral but engaging gloss on developments, along with personal recollections of everyone from Bobby Kennedy to Hunter S. Thompson. He may not always know what to make of it all, but Brokaw's profiles do convey the decade's diverse experiences, its roiling energies and its centrality in the making of modern America. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Longtime ÒNBC Nightly NewsÓ anchor and political commentator Tom Brokaw offers his own take on the infamous events of the 1960s, as well as on his own life during that arduous period. An accomplished narrator, given his years behind the news desk, Brokaw is steadfast in his delivery and clarity. However, his often imitated and unmistakable voice and accent may grate on the ears of many listeners. Nevertheless, BrokawÕs reading is exceptionally professional and seemingly heartfelt, offering listeners a side of his personality rarely revealed in the media. A compelling narrative from one of the most gifted presenters in recent memory. L.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author
Tom Brokaw is the author of four bestsellers: The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, An Album of Memories, and A Long Way from Home. From 1976 to 1981 he anchored Today on NBC. He was the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw from 1983 to 2004.

Customer Reviews

Scrapbook of Then, Now, and What It Might Have Meant
Tom Brokaw brings us a large dose of nostalgia as he recounts his life experiences and reflections about the sixties and their implications for today. Interwoven are many personal accounts by the famous that seem like extended People magazine features (where are they now?) rather than social history. Mr. Brokaw has a gentle, accepting personal style that makes the stories easy to read and experience.

I think this book will be of most interest to those who didn't live during the sixties as they try to appreciate this formative period in the lives of their parents and grandparents. I suspect the book will be of most value to these younger people if they use stories in the book as the launching pad for questions to their elders. I hope this will occur. Those who didn't experience the sixties don't understand a lot about the perspectives of those who did.

A key limitation of this book for those who want to appreciate the period is that the book doesn't really bring the history alive except in a brief time line in the back of the book. If you know the history of the 1940s-1960s, that's not a problem. My sense is that those under 35 are a little unclear on what happened then . . . and don't really care to know a lot more.

Ultimately, the book has a weakness that cannot be avoided: While there were heroes in the sixties, most of them died then or moved on to something not very heroic. So the stories will mostly pale compared to those of The Greatest Generation.

What did the sixties mean?

Opinions vary, but the gist of the book suggests the following:

1. Idealistic young people cannot accomplish very much without leaders who know what they are doing to head the young people in the right direction. Those leaders have been lacking for a long time.

2. Opposition to wars seems to be more likely when young people may be drafted to fight in them than when the wars merely create horrible situations for others.

3. All of that experimentation with wild living was dangerous and hard to recover from.

4. The core value of the sixties was probably "let me do my thing." That extreme desire for choice continues today and is part of what's good and bad about our society.

5. Tolerance grew out of the sixties . . . as did personal ambition for those who had been held back by social constraints. Those were good things.

6. We continue to be divided as a society by the issues raised during the sixties.

I found the book bringing back a lot of memories, especially when I saw how many people I know or have met recounted their lives in the book. I'm not sure it was a good idea to remember many of those things.

By the way, this material would have been much more desirable if done as a video of the interviews and reminiscences with lots of music and images of the sixties interspaced.

Clear, sensible and a true American
If you grew up or lived in the sixties you'll find this book very interesting. It deals with the dramatic changes that took place in peoples lives all across the country and the world during this time. It also goes on to talk about current times but remains very interesting throughout. Even if you did not grow up or live in the sixties you might still find this one very interesting.
Also recommended, Understanding: Train of Thought.