Do You Believe in Magic?

by Annie Gottlieb

s/t: The Second Coming of the 60's Generation
Relates the story of the generation's troubled passage to a promising middle life, from the times that were achangin' to the times that are.
Gottlieb talked to a diverse group of 60s 'survivors' & recorded their thoughts about the era & how it affected the course of their lives. She adds her own thoughts on where they were then as it relates to where they are now as baby-boomers enter middle-age & in so doing makes a successful attempt at putting that decade into historical perspective. In her words, her "book is...about...the ways we went too far...the friends we made & lost...remembrances of the Vietnam War & the anti-war movement...of drug & spiritual quests, of new forms of love & work. It's high time to tell our stories, & to say, if we can what their moral is." A nice companion volume is David Wallechinsky's Midterm Report: the class of `65. Libraries will want this. If you can afford Wallechinsky, too, all the better.--Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Library, Seaside, CA

Genres: History

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's great service is to record the thoughts of the '60s generation in their own words. Unfortunately, Gottlieb's own words are dry and unengaging. Despite that, the spirit of the book is one of affection tempered by hindsight. For a reader endlessly fascinated by the hippie movement, this was a fascinating book, especially as it takes pains to track the evolution of the movement to its present-day incarnation as modern social liberalism. Aimed more towards skeptics and critics rather than nostalgic hippie wannabes, but I'm a bit of both, so I liked this pretty well.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The counter-culture, as viewed by its participants. (Lots of people cited.) With only such (limited) perspective as they had acquired by living to the 1980s. Travel, drugs, and more.