Many of us had assumed that the Last of the Bohemians lost their voice sometime after Allen Ginsberg's Howl in the late 1950s, their minds at a Grateful Dead concert in the late 60s and their souls somewhere between disco, Vietnam and Watergate in the early 70s. Which, by the way, all make beatnik and hippie seem somewhat paunchy.
Powers gets weirder yet in the last chapter.
Powers, of course, knows this. In short, the cool kids should infiltrate and accept the nerds so we can all get along. And since it's been co-opted by Wall Street and the media, being alternative ain't exactly what it used to be anyway. Like Us is the first book to treat the generation marked with an X like grownups. And even if you don't completely buy Powers' generational empowerment trip, at the very least, it makes for a diverting and thought-provoking culture cruise.