NF

First read this book when it came out in the early nineties. This was before Generation X was known as Generation X and just after Douglas Coupland's novel "Generation X" came out. The book is a little dated (as 13th Gens were at the time 30 and under and now we're late 30s to 50s!), however there some truths in it about our generation. Overall an interesting cultural study. ( )

Howe and Strauss covered the 13th Generation--and the other 13 American generations--briefly in their first book, Generations. Here they go into great (and often grim) detail about what we now call Generation X. The writing is livelier than Generations, fortunately. The sidebars are interesting, although distracting.

In some respects, yes, the book is showing its age. Thirteeners are now hitting midlife instead of young adulthood, and the book's chatroom format is likely to bring on a wave of nostalgia in its own right. On the other hand, reading this book this many years later lets you see how well the authors' predictions for the future have been playing out. Prediction #5 ("Reaching midlife, the 13ers' economic fears will be confirmed. They will become the only generation born this century (the first since the Gilded) to suffer a one-generation backstep in living standards") has added oomph to it as I write this in the recession of 2008... ( )

A book about the generation most people call Generation X, the one that followed the Boomers. ( )

I fall into this generation by the authors' reckoning, and I have to say I was nodding my head in agreement as I read. I've become a devotee of their theory, and picked up their other books. ( )