Generations : The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069

Rating:
Summary: I found myself flipping thru the generation charts provided.
Review: This is a cultural history of the United States, that tells America's story in a fresh entertaining way. Not really a book for scholars. It shows generation by generation how each group arose to impact & be impacted by the steadily accelerating & expanding world they lived in. I got the impression that generations of young people were thrust into certain crisis in our history & dealt with or failed to deal with them. This gives a certain antagonsim & lack of faith between generations. The fate of the nation hung on the next generation being able to adapt. Examples of this are plentiful. The differences between the revolutinary generation & the next one destined to hold the new nation together were essential. The generation that failed to address the problems that led to the Civil War & the generation that had to fight & die in it cannot be ignored. Maybe the most important differences in suceeding generations that still impacts our lives today is the generation that created the conditions for the Great Depression & ultimately our entry into World War II and the generation that grew up in the depression, fought & won the war & then proceeded to dominate the world for the next 20 years. The flip side is the commonality of alternate generations. The GI generation, the generation that Tom Brogaw refers to as the "Greatest Generation", has much more in common with the Boomer generation that it does with the the Silent generation that immediately follows it, or the Lost generation that preceeded it. They were an agressive, sucessful, globally important group as I believe Boomers are. But as nuturing caring parents both genrations leave somthing to be desired. They were loved & desired as children. The Millenial generation, still being born seems to be the same. The Silent Generation, was was more inwardly directed, more nuturing & trying to find a place out of the shadows of the GI's. No member of the Silent generation will ever be president. The X generation seems to have some of the same problems & assets as the Silent. A continuing expanding economy will help them the most. The book is already dated but some of its assumptions are pretty close. Of course they haven't accounted for the vast changes in just the last eight years such as in communication, the internet ("the information super highway) & the global village concept. But then nobody could.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most engrossing, provocative books in years.
Review: Thow away your stale Popcorn ... if the cheesy, superficial nature of most futurists put you off in the past, get both of the books by Strauss and Howe. There's real substance here and a predictive model you can use to become your own think tank. There is also a touch of humor -- as befits the pedigree of one of the authors (a founder of the Capitol Steps). Anyone with imagination and insight will find many ideas they can put to good use -- and be entertained and challenged as they do. To give this book enough thumbs up, I would need more hands.

Rating:
Summary: pseudo-science posing as factual
Review: vague predictions, pseudo-science presenting as with it is factual. easy to skim it and say "wow" that makes sense, but lacking any proof or causal relationship. irritating, when one stops to think about it. their books are getting some buzz recently, perhaps from the same "generation" that read pop psychology books and self help 30 years ago?