Synopsis
Analyzes the revolution which took place in such areas as writing, movies, television, commercial art, and music in the nineteen sixties.
Elizabeth D. Schafer - Children's Literature
This limited history of the complex sixties will leave readers wanting more. Divided into topical chapters featuring music, art, books, theater, films, television, toys, and trends, the text examines the cultural impact of civil rights, feminism, antiwar and antigovernment protests, and counterculture reaction to the mainstream, emphasizing rebellion. Consumerism thrived. Much sixties culture persists in modern society. The strongest sections feature alternative theater, cult classics, and artistic challenges to Hollywood. Concentration on specific people and events results in other significant topics being ignored. The Kennedy-Nixon televised presidential debates are not mentioned. Pioneering black Oscar winner Sidney Poitier is omitted. Musical discussion focuses on metropolitans, overlooking Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where many sixties music stars recorded hit songs. Barbie is present, but G.I. Joe is AWOL. The exclusion of influential authors, particularly Margaret Walker Alexander, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, and Ralph Nader, in literary analysis is perhaps most disappointing,. Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) would have complemented discussion. Rachel Carson's and Marjory Stoneman Douglas's writings energized sixties environmental activity but are missing. Children's literature classic Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (1963), familiar to most readers, is also absent. The text often relies on long quotes from secondary sources and would have benefited from more contextual interpretation and inclusion of contemporary Americans' voices. Part of "The Lucent Library of Historical Eras" series. 2004, Lucent/Thomson Gale, Ages 12 up.
Editorials
Children's Literature
This limited history of the complex sixties will leave readers wanting more. Divided into topical chapters featuring music, art, books, theater, films, television, toys, and trends, the text examines the cultural impact of civil rights, feminism, antiwar and antigovernment protests, and counterculture reaction to the mainstream, emphasizing rebellion. Consumerism thrived. Much sixties culture persists in modern society. The strongest sections feature alternative theater, cult classics, and artistic challenges to Hollywood. Concentration on specific people and events results in other significant topics being ignored. The Kennedy-Nixon televised presidential debates are not mentioned. Pioneering black Oscar winner Sidney Poitier is omitted. Musical discussion focuses on metropolitans, overlooking Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where many sixties music stars recorded hit songs. Barbie is present, but G.I. Joe is AWOL. The exclusion of influential authors, particularly Margaret Walker Alexander, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, and Ralph Nader, in literary analysis is perhaps most disappointing,. Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) would have complemented discussion. Rachel Carson's and Marjory Stoneman Douglas's writings energized sixties environmental activity but are missing. Children's literature classic Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (1963), familiar to most readers, is also absent. The text often relies on long quotes from secondary sources and would have benefited from more contextual interpretation and inclusion of contemporary Americans' voices. Part of "The Lucent Library of Historical Eras" series. 2004, Lucent/Thomson Gale, Ages 12 up.—Elizabeth D. Schafer