Boomers: The Cold-War Generation Grows Up

An intriguing survey, this is recommended for . . . popular history and social issues.

[Boomers] is packed with historical, demographic and cultural insights about the ‘largest generation, ‘ if not ‘The Greatest.’

For many older readers, the book offers a highly evocative stroll through memory lane, with captivating references to fads, movies, music, television shows, and toys. Boomers identifies several distinctive features of a postwar childhood, such as the importance of neighborhood-based peer groups; the significance of negotiation and bargaining in large families; the Cold War tensions that colored childhood; and the sense of a common generational identity fostered in schools and by television, movies, and music. . . . Brooks’s book is one of a number of new or forthcoming books which will help us move beyond myth, caricature, nostalgic memories, and gross overgeneralization and better understand the lasting imprint of an age cohorts’ upbringing and formative experiences.