The Silent Generation. These are the men and women between The Greatest Generation who won World War II and The Boomers who resulted when that generation came home and made families. The Silent Generation didn't have a war that everyone supported; they had Vietnam. They didn't have a President from their ranks. Instead the political crown skipped from men like Eisenhower and Nixon to John Kennedy.
But what did they have and what did they contribute? The start of the computer industry that changed the world. The rise of rock and roll; Janis and Jimi to Motown. Flower Power. The desegration acts that gave African Americans their dignity and rights. The rise of feminism and reliable birth control. The Cold War and the post-Bomb era. An era when going to college became imaginable instead of just reserved for the wealthy and powerful.
In The Duke Don't Dance, Richard Sharp tells the story of the Silent Generation. He follows a group of friends from 1960 to the present. The reader follows their lives and is privy to their loves, their politics, their work and careers. In doing so, the contributions and issues of this generation come alive.
Richard Sharp is a member of this generation. Born in 1941, he traveled with his career all over the world and currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This is my father's generation - and although he's British, it looks like this might be one for under the Christmas tree!
ReplyDelete