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Title: Generations : The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 by Neil Howe, William Strauss ISBN: 0-688-11912-3 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 30 September, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.89 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Buy Two Copies!
Comment: A friend of mine lent me this book a few weeks ago. Skeptical about any book purporting to predict the future, I immediately read their predictions section - after all, the book was published ten years ago. To my surprise, I found that their predictions for 1992-2002 were largely correct! So I started again, at the beginning. The book is a work of genius.
The central tenet of this book is that generations don't age the same way, and when looking at generations through history, the correct way to look at them is by cohort - that is, by groups with similar birth years - rather than by age. In other words, if you're born in 1950 and grow up in the '60s and '70s, you'll be different at age 50 than you will if you're born in 1970 and grow up in the '80s and '90s. Strauss and Howe then trace a number of generational cohorts through American History, and find evidence of a cycle of generational types - usually a four part cycle, but in one case a three part cycle. For example, they liken Gen X (whom they call "13ers"), born in 1961-1980, to the "Lost" generation born in the late 1800s.
As a trailing edge boomer, born in 1960, I was not surprised to find that the authors, both boomers, correctly identify the defining characteristics of my generation - characteristics that I happen to dislike, as I'm in the minority that don't fit the mold that well, but that I have to acknowledge as accurate for the majority. On the other hand, the description of the Silent generation, to which my parents belong, was an eye opener - it explained well why my fathers views of what different stages in a man's life are like seemed so alien to me. The description of Gen X was likewise enlightening, both in terms of explaining some of my previous business interactions with Gen Xers (they always seem so surprised when someone actually gives them a break - turns out it's because they hardly ever get breaks) and helped me understand and interact much better with one particular Gen X who is very important to me - my wife. The description of the Millenials seems to be accurate so far for undergraduates I work with.
Two caveats when reading this book - first, remember it's American history, and the conclusions don't apply to those born overseas; second, the authors seem to emphasize the optimistic view of the future, for example focusing on the possibility that the current cycle will be a triumphant four part cycle, rather than an agonizing three part cycle as the Civil War cycle was.
At any rate, I'm now buying my own copy. I just wish I could find a hardcover, but hopefully it will still be in print when the paperback I'm buying wears out from repeated reference in a few years.
Rating: 5
Summary: Easily in the top 5 of history books, arguably Number One
Comment: The theme of the book is that American history follows a repeating pattern comprised of four sequential "cohort generations" roughly 22-years each in length, thus the pattern repeats about every 88 years, give or take.
This is slow reading, but well worth the effort. If you expect to skim this book and get anything but sophomoric value out of it, forget it. The amount of research and scholarship to conceive the theory and back it up with examples is staggering to contemplate. No writers in the 20th century come even close to developing such a theory so well, although the authors readily admit that the seminal concepts for such a theory were suggested by half-a-dozen or so writers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
They use tables and figures to very good effect at appropriate places, and have extensive appendices and a helpful glossary to help you try to keep the nomenclature they use straight. Find the glossary and refer to it often after you begin reading.
At the very end of the book they pull summarize their theory in a comprehensive one-page table that can be used as a check list of the concrete supporting facts and characterizations they develop in the rest of the book.
The Appendices explain the why and how of developing their theory. Source material is extensively documented in Endnotes, with an extensive list of additional reading, as well as a Name index. The Table of Contents is very helpful for going directly to material and sections. It reflects their organized, methodical approach to their explication of the theory.
It is a great piece of scholarship that I wish I had known about when it was first published. I was halfway through it, and ordered several more to send to friends and relatives. Of the generations of which I have personal knowledge, they seem to be dead-on with their descriptions, finding something good and bad in characteristics of each of them. It is timeless as to those generations which have passed completely away, and time will tell about their objective assessment of the endowments that current generations will leave for the future.
Be forewarned that the authors' objective assessment of the personality characteristics of the "Boomers" (the cohorts from 1943-1960) do not paint a very nice picture of them from their "rising adult" phase through "midlife" through "elderhood". Arrogant, self-centered, self-absorbed, self-righteous, intolerant. As I said: dead-on. They still have a chance to redeem themselves as Elders (but I'm not holding my breath).
Every history book I read from now on will be with the benefit of the insights I gained from this book. The Iliad and the Odyssey are worth a re-read from point of view of the concepts in this book.
As another reviewer said, buy two, and keep one on hand to give to someone you like who you think will benefit from it.
Rating: 1
Summary: pseudo-science posing as factual
Comment: 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?
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Title: Fourth Turning, The by William Strauss, Neil Howe ISBN: 0767900464 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 29 December, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Millennials Rising : The Next Great Generation by Neil Howe, William Strauss, R.J. Matson ISBN: 0375707190 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: 13th Gen : Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? by William Strauss, R.J. Matson, Ian Williams, Neil Howe ISBN: 0679743650 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Boomers, Xers, and Other Strangers: Understanding the Generational Differences That Divide Us by Kathy Hicks, Rick Hicks ISBN: 1561796778 Publisher: Focus on the Family Pub Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.99 |
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Title: When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. by Lynne C. Lancaster, David Stillman ISBN: 0066621062 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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