Chapter Excerpt

Introduction

The Boomer Century—both the television documentary and the book—are about the largest and most closely observed generation of Americans in history. Born between 1946 and 1964, boomers have been glamorized and reviled, applauded for their idealism and attacked for their materialism, praised for their innovation and condemned for their rebelliousness.

Whichever of those characterizations may be correct, these seventy-eight million Americans have changed the world—they are changing the world—and they will continue to do so for another twenty, thirty, or forty years to come.

The early chapters of this book are perhaps the most fun, for they are pure nostalgia. From Ricky Nelson to Richard Nixon, we will remember the birth and death of idealism. The middle chapters may be the most challenging, for they are about those days in the middle of our lives when we somehow evolved from "flower children"—emblems of "peace, love, and happiness"—into the "me" generation, set out on a quest for the best and the most. While he wasn#t a boomer by definition, Jerry Rubin came to exemplify this bizarre transformation. He went from being one of the infamous "Chicago Seven," parading in front of Judge Julius Hoffman#s bench saluting and shouting "Heil Hitler," to a Wall Street stockbroker. And the final chapters, undoubtedly the most important, perhaps should have been written in Nostradamusstyle quatrains, for they predict the future, and it is there, in the next quarter century, that boomers may face their most challenging years and have their greatest impact, for better or for worse, as they begin to experience life after sixty.

The book you hold in your hands is a companion to the PBS documentary The Boomer Century 1946#2046. It is a companion, not a clone. The producers of the program interviewed more than thirty of the world#s foremost experts in various disciplines and fields of endeavor apropos to the boomer generation, including scholars, authors, entertainers, politicians, and entrepreneurs, as well as experts in the fields of publishing, marketing, economics, technology, gerontology, sociology, religion, and even biochemistry.

The great catch to producing television programming is that such endeavors are by nature enslaved to a relentless and fast-moving clock, and decisions (often heartrending decisions) must be made about what can go in and what must be left out. After sitting down for a series of hour-long conversations with brilliant and fascinating people, producers spent most of their time deciding what not to throw away. So what you have before you is an expanded version of the thirty hours or more of these enticing, edifying conversations. It is here that you will find the nuances, the depth, and the details that fell victim to the producers# merciless stopwatch.

The book is, however, more than a collection of transcripts. We have "virtually" brought these people together, as though simultaneously in a single room, for the most entertaining and informative "roundtable discussion" ever held on the subject. They will agree, and they will disagree. They will vent and rage.

Brief biographies and professional credentials for our experts can be found in the About the Contributors section beginning on page 307. You will find them to be a diverse and most impressive group. Some have PhD#s, some have "work/life experience," and some just have very strong opinions.

All are fascinating.

Copyright © 2007 by Alexandria Productions, Inc.