Tom McBride

Every August I eagerly await the release of the Beloit College Mindset List. Working in Student Affairs, it's always nice to get a glimpse into the mindset of the incoming Freshman class. When I heard that the list had turned into a book, I was excited to see the list expanded.

The book takes generations who would have graduated HS in 898,1918,1931,1944,1957,1970,1983,1996,2009,and looks at the events that have shaped their generation both before they were born as as they grew up. We always joke with students and our younger relatives about "how easy" they current generation has it and this book is an interesting historical perspective on that idea. For the average reader, it traces back to their Grand/great grandparents generation to the future and offers insights on the cultural norms experiences.

As expected, this books offers a very broad generalization. Some of the items on list ( those that have always been dead for example) won't change, but some of the generalizations depend on class, socioeconomic status and location. For me, reading about my parents generation ( graduated around 1970) was not as realistic as what they experienced in their very small, segregated town( or at least what I've been told and seen). My only other complaint is rather personal and trivial but I felt like I personally didn't have a place in the book- 80's babies ( of which I am) were ignored. Too young for the class of 96 and to old for the class of 2009. Anyway- that my personal comment that didn't really effect my enjoyment of this book and the historical perspective it offered. While certainly not as in-depth as Generations by Strauss and Howe, this book offers a quick informative and entertaining overview of the history of the mindset of people today.

Now I just have to wait until August to learn about the mindset of the class of 2016.… (más)

Very interesting way to get insight into everyone in your life. If you enjoy those email lists that go around, you'll enjoy this. If you are employed in any venue of public service, you should read this book. I've noticed as a lawyer that generations do respond differently and have different expectations. I try to meet them where they are, and I think that what I gained from this book will be helpful in this goal. This is probably also a must have reference book for any writer or historian. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is because I recognize the impossibility of a general summation of the mainstream influences on anyone's life.… (más)

This book is a collection of 74 people, products, expressions, and other things that were once a firm part of the collective American conscious, but would now be unknown to most people under 50. As such, it has an intrinsic interest and a nostalgia value for those of us over 50, but I can’t help wish that this were a better list and that the explanations of the significance of the things on the list were better done. Worse than the rather bland descriptions of most of these things are the so-called guesses by “Today’s Young and Restless” about what the name of the thing may be referring to and the even-worse example of how the name of the thing may have been used in contemporary conversation. These are apparently supposed to be funny, but aren’t. The book is also riddled with errors in chronology. What on Earth makes these authors believe that Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby died on the same day, for instance?

The choice of subjects seems random at best and completely haphazard at worst. It’s as if the authors had a brainstorming session and picked the first 74 things that came up. In trying to relate some of these things to modern events, they frequently stretch things more than a bit too far. When discussing the failure of the Edsel, I’m not sure that the collapses of Enron and Lehman Brothers are terribly relevant. And saying that “the near-collapse of the financial industry in 2008 to 2009 is the Vietnam of today’s younger folks” is beyond laughable.

But as I said at the beginning, a book like this can’t help but provide some entertainment and bring back a few things I had forgotten entirely, such as the once-ubiquitous World Book Encyclopedia. I just wish the authors had worked a little harder to make this book even half as intellectually rigorous and well-written as its academic pedigree would seem to require.… (más)