From: mss2@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer)
Subject: Generations (was Re: Generation Gap (Gen X vs. boomer), 13th-gen)
Reply-To: mss2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 08:14:09 GMT

In article <1gelimINN7u9@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> at507@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jim M. Bowden) writes:

>Has anyone seen any information about a book by NEIL HOW - 13th-Generation:
>abort, delete, retry, fail?  I think it will be published in march 1993.

Don't know anything about the new book except what it says in the
Atlantic: the title is _13th GEN: Abort, Delete, Retry, Fail?_ and is
co-authored by William Strauss and Neil Howe like the Atlantic article
and their previous collaboration _Generations: The History of
America's Future 1584-2069_.  I found _Generations_ to be quite good,
setting out a cyclical theory of American generations and backing it
convincingly with historical data.  They then make predictions for the
next few decades and say flat out that this will be the test of their
theory, since anyone can predict the past.  I also prefer their term
for the generation born between '61 and '81, "Thirteener" (for the
13th generation of born US citizens and because they predict bad
fortune for the generation), to any of the other terms thus far
coined.  I'm not fond of "Generation X" and I truly detest terms which
define it solely in terms of the Boom-- "Baby Busters", "Posties",
etc.  I can deal with "Slacker" in the Yankee Doodle spirit of taking
up a derisive nickname with pride, but I don't know that I want that
as the only identifier, somehow.  :-)

	Obviously, a theory like theirs has a danger of becoming like
astrology, where everyone can see what they expect to see once they
adopt the model.  But Strauss and Howe appear to have done their
historical research and they've built their models with skill.  And if
nothing else, their work in putting together the historical lifecycle
of each generation as it passes from youth through adulthood to age is
worthwhile regardless of what one thinks of their theory, and is a
good antidote to the tendency to see age-groups as static bodies
undergoing change (e.g. "The academic performance of 17 year olds
declined" or "Retirees are now wealthier than they were ten years
ago".  Maybe so, but the important question may lie in looking not at
the trend for 17 year olds, but what those 17 year olds were
experiencing when they were 5 and 10, while wealthier retirees may
reflect the fact that their age cohort was consistently wealthier than
their elders throughout their lives.)

	The Atlantic article is a good introduction, but because of
its narrow focus it makes the theory look parochial.  The book is
better, giving as it does an overview of US history from the first
English settlements in what would be the US up through the present.

	It's currently available in trade paperback, though I'm not
sure how much it runs.  The hardcover was $22.95 (plus tax, minus any
discounts).  The book is published by William Morrow and Company.

Mike

-- 
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS	"Indeed I tremble for my country
mss2@midway.uchicago.edu	 when I reflect that God is just."
mike.schiffer@um.cc.umich.edu	 -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on
mschiffer@aal.itd.umich.edu	    Virginia (1784)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,alt.comedy.british,soc.culture.british,alt.fan.monty-python