Are the Kids All Right? The Rock Generation and Its Hidden Death Wish

by John G. Fuller

Great copy! ORIGINAL cover is in okay shape and the hardbound item is EXCEPTION with minor signs of fading and minimal evidence of shelf life. Ships via USPS in the United States!

Genres: Nonfiction

262 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

John Grant Fuller, Jr. (1913 - 1990) was a New England-based American author of several non-fiction books and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on the theme of extra-terrestrials and the supernatural. For many years he wrote a regular column for the Saturday Review magazine, called "Trade Winds". His three most famous books were The Ghost of Flight 401, Incident at Exeter, and The Interrupted Journey.
The Ghost of Flight 401 was based on the tragic Eastern Air Lines airplane crash in December 1972, and the alleged supernatural events which followed; it was eventually turned into a popular 1978 made-for-television movie.
Incident at Exeter concerned a series of well-publicized UFO sightings in and around the town of Exeter, New Hampshire in the fall of 1965 (see the Exeter incident). Fuller personally investigated the sightings and interviewed many of the eyewitnesses, he also claimed to have seen a UFO himself during his investigation.
The Interrupted Journey tells the story of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction. The Hills were a married couple who claimed to have been abducted in 1961 by the occupants of a UFO in the White Mountains of New Hampshire while returning home from a vacation. The book was the first to seriously claim that competent, reliable witnesses were being abducted by UFOs for medical and scientific experiments. The book remains one of the most influential in UFO history; and has been hotly debated since its publication. Like The Ghost of Flight 401, The Interrupted Journey was also turned into a made-for-television movie in 1975.
Fuller wrote The Great Soul Trial (1969) about the disappearance of Arizona Miner James Kidd and the later trial regarding his will, which left his fortune to anyone who could prove the existence of the human soul. The book was published prior to the final resolution of the case in 1971.
John was also married to a NorthWest flight Attendant who was the researcher mentioned in his book "Ghost of Flight 401" His book We Almost Lost Detroit deals with a serious accident at the Fermi nuclear power plant near Detroit. The book title was later the title of a song by Gil Scott-Heron on the No Nukes live album recorded by the Musicians United for Safe Energy.
He wrote two plays -- The Pink Elephant, which opened in 1953, and Love Me Little, which opened in 1958, both on Broadway.
His most important book was the fictional novel We Almost Lost Detroit. There is a song by Gil Scott-Heron, same title.
Fuller died of lung cancer in 1990.

Reviews

[Midoil1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an obscure book that my older brother found in one of his "thrift shop" searches. Knowing that my other email name is "olwhofan" he picked this up. It is a detailed account of the Cinncinati tragedy where about a dozen fans died trying to get into that city's indoor arena to see Pete and the boys. Whenever confronted with this fact, I always tell people that in Latin America that same week over 100 people got trampled to death trying to get a close view of the pope. Somehow rock fans don't rate high up on the food chain and all I get are raised eyebrows. This story basically puts all the factors together; city incompetence at opening only one door into the place and making the lowing crowds wait, the press of people, the lack of any outward signs that eight fans were suffocating in the calm, if packed crowd, the adrenaline of the anticipated show, the "anapestic beat" which sort of hynotized the crowd. The latter is most interesting because its "Boom Boom...BOOM" cadence is a rock staple and it seems that repeated over and over again, along with the adrenaline, etc., can cause a sort of euphoric hynotism. When the medics autopsied the dead they found that drugs were not an issue at all. The books subtitle reads "The rock generation and its hidden death wish" but the author's finding sort of say that it wasn't a death wish at Cincinatti. Of course the Who were notorious instrument and hotel smashers and they did incite riots in England. They were not choir boys. An interesting read and, as always, the book is available if anyone wants to read it.

[K.W. Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a short study I’m doing compating the Who concert tragedy to more recent concert deaths. The author’s research is tremendous here and humanizes the incident tremendously. However, there is a lot of dated judgmentalism sprinkled throughout when it comes to both rock musicians and fans, and that may lead readers to erroneous conclusions about what causes this tragedy. In sum, it was infrastructural and logistical problems, not the “mass hypnotism” of “hard rock” that caused the concertgoers’ deaths, and the author does not make this as clear as he could have. The sheer amount of detail here, however, makes this a worthwhile examination of the event.

[Mike Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Joanne Zienty · Rating 3 out of 5]

An examination of the tragic deaths of 11 young men and women at the 1979 Who concert at the Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum. The writing describing the actual event and its aftermath is gripping. The middle section, which takes a look at the tempestuous 1960's and '70's and the spawning of hard rock and heavy metal, is a bit of a stretch. Fuller pulls in a number of psychological theories about the effect of rock music on its audience, some of which are plausible, others not so much. There's a bit of repetitiveness as well, which screams for an editor's touch. But overall, an interesting, engrossing read about an event which has faded into the shadows, but which deserves remembering.