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The 60s: The Story of a Decade

(The Story of a Decade #3)

The New Yorker,

Renata Adler (Contributor),

Hannah Arendt (Contributor),

James Baldwin (Contributor),

Truman Capote (Contributor),

Henry Finder (Editor)

4.07 · Rating details · 147 ratings · 38 reviews

The third installment of a fascinating decade-by-decade series, this anthology collects historic New Yorker pieces from the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century including work by James Baldwin, Pauline Kael, Sylvia Plath, Roger Angell, Muriel Spark, and John Updike alongside new assessments of the 1960s by some of today s finest writers.

Here are real-time accoun The third installment of a fascinating decade-by-decade series, this anthology collects historic New Yorker pieces from the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century including work by James Baldwin, Pauline Kael, Sylvia Plath, Roger Angell, Muriel Spark, and John Updike alongside new assessments of the 1960s by some of today s finest writers.

Here are real-time accounts of these years of turmoil: Calvin Trillin reports on the integration of Southern universities, E. B. White and John Updike wrestle with the enormity of the Kennedy assassination, and Jonathan Schell travels with American troops into the jungles of Vietnam. The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the fallout of the 1968 Democratic Convention, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Six-Day War: All are brought to immediate and profound life in these pages.

The New Yorker of the 1960s was also the wellspring of some of the truly timeless works of American journalism. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem, and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time all first appeared in The New Yorker and are featured here. The magazine also published such indelible short story masterpieces as John Cheever's The Swimmer and John Updike's A & P, alongside poems by Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
The arts underwent an extraordinary transformation during the decade, one mirrored by the emergence in The New Yorker of critical voices as arresting as Pauline Kael and Kenneth Tynan. Among the crucial cultural figures profiled here are Simon & Garfunkel, Tom Stoppard, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Cassius Clay (before he was Muhammad Ali), and Mike Nichols and Elaine May.

The assembled pieces are given fascinating contemporary context by current New Yorker writers, including Jill Lepore, Malcolm Gladwell, and David Remnick. The result is an incomparable collective portrait of a truly galvanizing era.

Advance praise for The 60s: The Story of a Decade
The third installment in the esteemed magazine s superb decades series . . . The contributor list is an embarrassment of riches. . . . The hits continue. Bring on the '70s. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)" ...more

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Hardcover, 720 pages

Published October 25th 2016 by Random House

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· 147 ratings · 38 reviews

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Aug 09, 2016 Bethan Watson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

This book is the third instalment of a decade-by-decade series. It is a collection of pieces from the New Yorker from the most joyous years of the twentieth century. Some of the most important events in history happened in the 1960’s, including Kennedy’s assassination, the murder of Martin Luther King and Jonathan Schell travels with American troops to Vietnam. Most importantly for me, in the March of 1965, my Father was born. This is why I have taken such an interest in finding out what life wa ...more

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Dec 17, 2019 Carol Storm rated it it was ok

Reading the New Yorker to find out what happened in the Sixties is like interviewing Marie Antoinette to learn about the French Revolution. There are some worthwhile pieces here (Pauline Kael's brilliant takedown of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") but the premise is false. The New Yorker has never been and never will be a magazine that promotes genuine social change. It's a magazine for rich white people on the Upper West Side who like to think that they're hipper and more humane than the ...more

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Jul 08, 2019 Brian Eshleman rated it really liked it

I'm amazed an editorial staff consisting of different people can navigate different times with a collective voice that is never either trendy or condescending. This is especially true given how shocking the 60s must have been for some of the magazines more hidebound readership.

If you read the New Yorker now for a reflective take on our times and have any interest in the 60s, I would recommend it. Sometimes the magazine manages to see change coming in thought-provoking ways. Other times, it seems ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction-read-2017

Did not know it was an anthology. I'm not a fan of essays and short stories usually. There were some good ideas contained in this collection, but I was looking forward to a review of the decade. ...more

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Sep 13, 2017 David Corleto-Bales rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017

The editors of The New Yorker gleaned their magazine's pages from the decade of the 1960s to find some of the decade's best writing, everything from journalism and fiction to poetry. I skipped the latter two and focused on the typically brilliant New Yorker non-fiction articles by everyone from E.B. White and Truman Capote to Hannah Arendt. Covered topics included Nigeria's independence celebration in 1960, the Cuba Missile Crisis, the murders of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr., an exce ...more

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May 24, 2017 Jeff rated it really liked it

These collections are always first rate. Just a wonderful collection for each decade.

In this collection the first section is titled " Reckonings " and includes excerpts of some of the most famous, groundbreaking work ever produced in the magazine in any decade, not just the sixties.

Beginning with Silent Spring, an essay which many attribute as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. I, myself, have just recently read the entire three part essay. It is breathtakingly prescient. It s ...more

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Nov 06, 2016 Mandy rated it it was amazing

Another eclectic and intriguing collection from the New Yorker – this time it’s the 60s in focus, so that means so many iconic names are represented here, from Rachel Carson with Silent Spring to Hannah Arendt with Eichmann in Jerusalem. Brief Encounters feature Twiggy to Tom Stoppard, there’s poetry from Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, a review of Portnoy’s Complaint and fiction from John Cheever – amongst many many others. Helpful and illuminating comment from contemporary New Yorker ...more

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Jun 22, 2019 Craig Werner rated it liked it

Shelves: sixties

Your response to this will depend on two things: 1) your feelings about the New Yorker and its house style--the use of the editorial "we", the ideological commitment to mainstream liberalism; the cool, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor; and 2) what you're reading the book for. If you're looking for a history of the Sixties, this isn't it, but that's embedded in the fact that it's an anthology of journalism written at the time. That creates some fascinating reading experiences since the writers ...more

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Aug 29, 2019 Chris DiLeo rated it it was amazing

As with The 50's collection of The New Yorker pieces, this collection offers an authentic (though, of course slanted) take on the Sixties from the actual time period.

The best pieces are "In Cold Blood: The Corner" by Truman Capote; "The Price of Peace is Confusion" by Renata Adler; "Lull" by Charlayne Hunter; "Views of a Death" by Jonathan Miller; "Notes and Comments (The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.) by Jacob Brackman and Terrence Malick; and "A&P" by John Updike.

Some of it is very ...more

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Aug 10, 2016 Dachokie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Hodge-Podge View of the 1960s …

This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free copy of the book.

Having been born in 1966, I honestly can’t say I “experienced” the 60s and maybe that was the reason I had difficulty identifying with “The New Yorker’s” take on the decade. While THE 60’S: THE STORY OF A DECADE offers some tasty tidbits of journalism authored by a host of American icons, I felt the overall selection of stories chosen could have better represented the tur Hodge-Podge View of the 1960s …

This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free copy of the book.

Having been born in 1966, I honestly can’t say I “experienced” the 60s and maybe that was the reason I had difficulty identifying with “The New Yorker’s” take on the decade. While THE 60’S: THE STORY OF A DECADE offers some tasty tidbits of journalism authored by a host of American icons, I felt the overall selection of stories chosen could have better represented the turbulent decade. But, with that being said, the sheer number of stories/articles means there is a little something for everyone.

“The New Yorker” is approaching a 100 year history of publishing informative, entertaining and provocative essays, stories and reviews that cover virtually every facet of Americana, even though it is predominantly “New York-centric”. THE 60S provides a sampling of the magazine’s coverage of a decade that transformed the United States on almost every front. The articles that comprise the book reflect that transformation (politically, socially/culturally and artistically) … the 1960s proved to be a prolific resource for the magazine’s contributors.

The nearly 700 page book is organized into nine chapters (parts) that cover a wide range of topics (from poetry, fiction and sports to social upheaval and encounters with newsworthy individuals of the day). Each part/chapter is prefaced with an introduction from contemporary contributors for contextual purposes. The articles within the chapters are varied and include some of America’s more celebrated writers (Cheever, Capote and Updike, for example). As I stated earlier, there is a little something for everyone. Personally, I could not establish a connecting rhythm with much of the book’s content and found some of the articles/entries rather bland and tedious to read. Then again, there were a few nuggets that caught my attention (I generally do not enjoy fiction, but was enthralled by John Updike’s uneventful short story, “A&P”). While the book covers the pulse of the decade’s most iconic moments/issues (civil rights, feminism, moon landing, Woodstock, etc.), I was somewhat surprised that topics like the 68 Olympics, Charles Manson and the Altamont festival were not covered. Additionally, it would have really been nice if the book included a chapter with some of the magazine’s 1960s cartoons (it would seem logical to include them in the mix).

I certainly like the idea of sampling the magazine’s articles over decades; the writing quality is noteworthy. While I could not connect with THE 60S, I do feel that those who experienced the decade first-hand certainly would. Looking forward, I do hope the magazine’s next offering is dedicated to the 70s … now that’s a decade I can sink my teeth into.
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Jun 19, 2016 Biblio Files (takingadayoff) rated it it was amazing

The New Yorker's third entry in this decade-by-decade review of the magazine's best writing, The 60s takes a somewhat serious tone. My own recollection of the 60s is as a child, so the political upheaval, student unrest, and racial tension was a slightly unsettling hum in the background of my watching Captain Kangaroo and playing with Spirograph. My memory of the JFK assassination was that all the grownups were so upset and then so sad. So reading this anthology fills in some blanks from the era The New Yorker's third entry in this decade-by-decade review of the magazine's best writing, The 60s takes a somewhat serious tone. My own recollection of the 60s is as a child, so the political upheaval, student unrest, and racial tension was a slightly unsettling hum in the background of my watching Captain Kangaroo and playing with Spirograph. My memory of the JFK assassination was that all the grownups were so upset and then so sad. So reading this anthology fills in some blanks from the era.

One thing that stands out in the collection is how many of the pieces are still well-known, such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. James Baldwin and Hannah Arendt are also represented here, and if you've read Calvin Trillin's latest book, Jackson 1964, you'll recognize a few of his articles here. JFK's death would be only the first of the assassinations of the 60s, and before that there was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Overseas there were the war in Vietnam and the student protests in Paris and convulsions in the Middle East. Dispatches from E.B. White and John Updike and Emily Hahn help to make sense of the inexplicable.

My favorite feature of The New Yorker, the profiles of famous or yet to be famous people, include a thoughtful look at The Who by a young Hendrik Hertzberg, and looks at newcomers Cassius Clay, Brian Epstein, and Marshall McLuhan. In the arts coverage, Nat Hentoff considers a difficult interviewee in Bob Dylan, and Pauline Kael pans Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Kenneth Tynan raves about Bye Bye Birdie (really?), Ellen Willis writes about rock (although I found her reporting from the NY legislature on abortion law her most powerful piece in this collection).

There's also fiction (Updike, Cheever, Barthelme, and more) and poetry, but no cartoons. Although I enjoy the cartoons every week, it seems to me that humor often doesn't age well, so it's probably just as well to skip them.

An altogether enjoyable and varied collection of writing from the 60s. Bring on the 70s!

(Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a digital review copy.) ...more

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Jan 13, 2017 Chris added it

I didn't read every essay in this collection, but finally, I read "Silent Spring", the essay that began the environmental movement, by Rachel Carson. I read "Eichmann in Jerusalem", at last, and can now delve further into Hannah Arendt's explorations of that compelling need of humanity for totalitarianism. After exploring cultural events like Woodstock, The March on Washington, Bob Dylan, The 1969 Mets, or The Beatles, in many other ways over the years, The New Yorker articles here were fresh pe ...more

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Apr 16, 2017 Diogenes rated it it was amazing

The editors of The New Yorker have done a tremendous job of creating a series of books encapsulating each decade, based on the contents of the weekly magazine during each. While I haven't read "The 40s", or "The 50s", this book on the 1960s is truly fabulous, filled with the giants of the age, giving us a beautiful, harrowing time capsule (or time machine) to these tumultuous times. At almost 700 pages thick, this is a veritable trove. Endemic racism, police brutality, immoral wars, the galvaniz ...more

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Feb 15, 2017 Dan Pasquini rated it really liked it

Some incredible, iconic stories (of course) which help fill out the picture of the '60s, so much of which has been lost to time and stereotype.

Many of the pieces are abridged -- some were nearly book-length themselves; without making edits this collection would easily be 1,000 pages. Most of the edits are done well but a few stories are shorn of context. On others, like "The Put-On," so much gold is left behind. And one could have done with more from Pauline Kael and Ellen Willis. But that's wh ...more

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Jul 16, 2017 Katrina rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, short-story-collection, essay-collection, the-sixties-non-fiction, 2017

This is a wonderful collection of essays, installments, short stories, and poetry that appeared in the The New Yorker in the 1960's. It provides interesting and provocative perspectives of that era. I found the article about Arthur Ashe's US Open win over Clark Graebner particularly compelling, especially as it detailed, without much recognition, the more casual racism of that time. The article on Woodstock, written without historical distance, was also interesting. ...more

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Oct 20, 2016 Susan Csoke rated it it was amazing

The 1960's was the most tumultuous decade of the twentieth century. Included are historic writings from The New Yorker. Real time accounts of the integration of Southern universities, the Kennedy assassination, American troops in Vietnam, the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., the soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and much more. A fabulous informative, coffee table book!!!!! ...more

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Dec 06, 2016 Debi Hagberg rated it really liked it

I grew up in the 60's so was excited to win this book in Goodreads giveaway. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was broken down into chapters labeled with the occurrence so it could be a book read from jumping around and not having to read front to back. Nicely written, it brought back many memories, some good, some really bad! ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 Kathy marked it as to-read

Shelves: first-reads

Thank you Goodreads for selecting me as a lucky winner of this anthology in the First Reads program!

I look forward to reading it!

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Nov 30, 2016 Donia rated it really liked it

This was a quick and enjoyable read and I have passed it on to my 14 year old son in the hopes that this history will be remembered correctly.

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Dec 11, 2016 Sandi rated it really liked it

Reading this book was like going back to my childhood and then young adult I especially liked the music books

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Feb 01, 2017 Susanne rated it really liked it

Another excellent book; read it selectively and it brought back memories of my 1960s.

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Jul 05, 2017 Linda Henry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have already started reading this book, and am looking for to reading again at a deeper level since I was born in 1961.
I also think I might want to get the other 2 books in this series

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Aug 04, 2017 Kelly Camui rated it really liked it

I skipped critics and fiction, but otherwise good

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Dec 12, 2017 Jeff rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Somehow my review on this book ran out of room, it does not look like 20 thousand words to me. But, I didn't count. So..here the paperback version sits to hold the rest of my review.

Continuing under Part Five New Arrivals in the " Brief Encounters section from the previous review we begin a brief report on Joan Baez and a non violent movement station she is hosting. A bit longer piece on Twiggy gives a glimpse of the importance in the moment of the skinny model who really changed the way we loo ...more

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Jul 20, 2018 Brian Hutzell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: essays, short-stories, 1960s, journalism

Any songwriter would be proud to pen what could be considered a classic song—one that was guaranteed to survive the test of time. Bob Dylan has accomplished this multiple times. Recently, he was able to add “Nobel Laureate” to his resume. But Dylan has never taken himself as seriously as has the press writing about him. At least I hope not. If he does, then he is ridiculous.

This brings up one of the problems of the 1960s: It is often hard to know who is putting on whom. [Artist Andy Warhol and c ...more

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Sep 08, 2016 Terri rated it really liked it

The 60s is the third installment of decade overview collections from The New Yorker. This installment contains a wide range of nonfiction articles, reviews, fiction and poetry from the 1960s. Topics vary and include the civil right movement, the counterculture, music festivals, Vietnam, computers and much more.

Overall, this is a great collection that explores all of the topics that made the 1960s still a huge talking point today. Getting more specific, some of the articles are a bit long-winded ...more

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Mar 11, 2018 Theresa rated it it was amazing

This series (The 40s, The 50s, The 60s) has been amazing. The opportunity to get perspective on an entire decade of emerging art and culture through the New Yorker's published articles, fiction and poetry, is wonderful. Following my reading of the earlier books in the series, I like to pick out one or two examples from the fiction or poetry to use as inspiration for a story or poem of my own. It has helped me discover important and engaging writers from the past, and to understand how American l ...more

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Nov 12, 2018 Onur Sazak rated it it was amazing

Anyone who is interested in learning about a decade that ushered in the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy today and that broadened our horizon in arts, science, technology, philosophy, and humanities will never find a more comprehensive work than this vast compilation of New Yorker articles on the breakthroughs of the 60s

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Oct 24, 2019 Grindy Stone rated it it was amazing

I'm a big fan of these New Yorker anthologies, but this one really knocks it out of the park. The 1960s were eventful, of course, and it seems that for every big movement or event of the decade the New Yorker was there. Civil rights, Vietnam, Bob Dylan, the Amazin' Mets, Allen Ginsberg, Marshall McLuhan - wonderful essays on all. Highly recommended. ...more

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Apr 14, 2020 Karl Ocampo rated it it was ok

As much as I love The New Yorker, I found the curation of the stories in this book too high-brow. Still, I’m glad I picked this up because it introduced me to Pauline Kael – easily the best film critic I’ve read. I also enjoyed several pieces written by James Baldwin, Jonathan Miller, Jacob Brackman and Terrence Malick, Flora Lewis, and Lillian Ross just to name a few.

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About The New Yorker

The New Yorker

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The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications. Starting as a weekly in the mid-1920s, the magazine is now published forty-seven times per year, with five of these issues covering two-week spans.