Tom Brokow, although not a baby boomer himself, being born in 1940, has a good prospective on the '60s in that he was a young TV newsman covering a lot of the events of those years. If you're a boomer (and you know who you are), you might consider reading this book.
About 1/3 of the book is Brokow's perspective on the events of the '60s. The rest is interviews with a wide cast of characters who participated in the events and offer their perspective on what was happening then and what, if anything, it means today.
He interviews a wide range of people. Some you'll know like Andrew Young, Senator James Webb, Judy Collins, and Gloria Steinem. But there are others you won't know like Captain Gene Kimmel and Nellie Coakley. And some people you might not connect with the '60s at all (or at least I didn't). Like Colin Powell, Carl Rove and President Clinton.
I don't think the book does a real good job of telling us what it all meant or what it means today. Maybe that's an impossible task anyway. Maybe we all have to figure out what living through that era means to us on our own terms. The folks I've targeted for this blog who are boomers span the entire '60s as some of you are a bit older than me and some are a bit younger. I graduated from high school in 1969. I'd say I probably starting paying serious attention to the world at large in 1966. I think, depending on when you 'came of age' your experiences and perspectives will be different. This book offers a wide range of experiences and perspectives and has helped me to understand the era better than I did.
Here's a link to the Amazon.com page for the book. There are some pretty good reviews (including mine).
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