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All Falling Faiths: Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s
In this warm and intimate memoir Judge Wilkinson delivers a chilling message. The 1960s inflicted enormous damage on our country; even at this very hour we see the decade’s imprint in so much of what we say and do. The chapters reveal the harm done to the true meaning of education, to our capacity for lasting personal commitments, to our respect for the rule of law, to our sense of rootedness and home, to our desire for service, to our capacity for national unity, to our need for the sustenance of faith. Judge Wilkinson does not seek to lecture but to share in the most personal sense what life was like in the 1960s, and to describe the influence of those frighteningly eventful years upon the present day.
Judge Wilkinson acknowledges the good things accomplished by the Sixties and nourishes the belief that we can learn from that decade ways to build a better future. But he asks his own generation to recognize its youthful mistakes and pleads with future generations not to repeat them. The author’s voice is one of love and hope for America. But our national prospects depend on facing honestly the full magnitude of all we lost during one momentous decade and of all we must now recover.
Judge Wilkinson acknowledges the good things accomplished by the Sixties and nourishes the belief that we can learn from that decade ways to build a better future. But he asks his own generation to recognize its youthful mistakes and pleads with future generations not to repeat them. The author’s voice is one of love and hope for America. But our national prospects depend on facing honestly the full magnitude of all we lost during one momentous decade and of all we must now recover.
208 pages, Hardcover
Published February 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 18, 2025
Wilkinson’s book is two parts that do not fuse to be greater than their partially explored halves.
In one level, the text is a historical thesis: while the 1960s created many benefits still enjoyed by American society today, the decade still deeply burned our country and we are still dealing with these wounds today. Wilkinson does not, a la Buchanan and his ilk, question the social movements of the 60s on their merits. He agrees with integration, increased rights for women, and disagrees strongly with the government’s mandated draft during Vietnam. Yet he contends that the course of these social changes made lawlessness more acceptable, destroyed the institution of the family, and dethroned public service as a high aspiration in the minds of Americans. At times, it can be difficult to disagree with Wilkinson on the exact phenomena he sees in America and how he ties them back to the 60s. But more importantly, Wilkinson ignores a key question in his analysis: how should these social changes have occurred? It is easy to take issue with riots, fatherless children, and a population that prioritizes money over their country. It is much harder to outline the way that the more just society of today, which Wilkinson himself celebrates, could have come about without the movements of the 60s. This is a hard hypothetical to grapple with, but it is the one begged by Wilkinson’s critique of the era and one he does not answer.
Perhaps the reason Wilkinson does not attempt to answer this is due to the other parts of the book which share his personal upbringing in 1950s Virginia, his boarding school experience at Lawrenceville, his time at Yale and the University of Virginia’s Law School, and his time in the Army Reserve. This text is more than historical analysis; it is also a memoir. These sections are vulnerable and give the reader a view into worlds that seem to no longer exist, from the Saturday morning breakfast table at which Wilkinson’s socially conservative father would wear a coat and tie out of respect to his wife to the secluded Yale environment of the mid 20th century that nursed and supported countless American greats. These stories bring flavor to the text and Wilkinson is honest about temptation, his insecurity as a southerner at Yale, and, most of all, his own shortcomings. His time spent seeking to avoid the front lines of Vietnam while also not directly dodging the draft seemed to be what I would do if put into a similar place. But these stories inform his larger historical point, not the other way around. This is not the memoir of Wilkinson coupled with his larger views on the 60s. Thus, for how insightful and thoughtful as they are, these sections cannot redeem the book themselves.
Overall, the restrained character of the thesis and supporting role of the biographical elements leave the reader with what the book claims to be: reflections. But neither role is totally satisfying enough for this to be a terrific read.
In one level, the text is a historical thesis: while the 1960s created many benefits still enjoyed by American society today, the decade still deeply burned our country and we are still dealing with these wounds today. Wilkinson does not, a la Buchanan and his ilk, question the social movements of the 60s on their merits. He agrees with integration, increased rights for women, and disagrees strongly with the government’s mandated draft during Vietnam. Yet he contends that the course of these social changes made lawlessness more acceptable, destroyed the institution of the family, and dethroned public service as a high aspiration in the minds of Americans. At times, it can be difficult to disagree with Wilkinson on the exact phenomena he sees in America and how he ties them back to the 60s. But more importantly, Wilkinson ignores a key question in his analysis: how should these social changes have occurred? It is easy to take issue with riots, fatherless children, and a population that prioritizes money over their country. It is much harder to outline the way that the more just society of today, which Wilkinson himself celebrates, could have come about without the movements of the 60s. This is a hard hypothetical to grapple with, but it is the one begged by Wilkinson’s critique of the era and one he does not answer.
Perhaps the reason Wilkinson does not attempt to answer this is due to the other parts of the book which share his personal upbringing in 1950s Virginia, his boarding school experience at Lawrenceville, his time at Yale and the University of Virginia’s Law School, and his time in the Army Reserve. This text is more than historical analysis; it is also a memoir. These sections are vulnerable and give the reader a view into worlds that seem to no longer exist, from the Saturday morning breakfast table at which Wilkinson’s socially conservative father would wear a coat and tie out of respect to his wife to the secluded Yale environment of the mid 20th century that nursed and supported countless American greats. These stories bring flavor to the text and Wilkinson is honest about temptation, his insecurity as a southerner at Yale, and, most of all, his own shortcomings. His time spent seeking to avoid the front lines of Vietnam while also not directly dodging the draft seemed to be what I would do if put into a similar place. But these stories inform his larger historical point, not the other way around. This is not the memoir of Wilkinson coupled with his larger views on the 60s. Thus, for how insightful and thoughtful as they are, these sections cannot redeem the book themselves.
Overall, the restrained character of the thesis and supporting role of the biographical elements leave the reader with what the book claims to be: reflections. But neither role is totally satisfying enough for this to be a terrific read.
February 18, 2019
My sister gave me her copy of this after she had read it, thinking I would like it. Overall it was pretty good, I think I expected more of an expose/analysis of the 60s, where it was more rumination and observation about things that happened and how that changed some aspects of life, possibly forever.
One passage stood out that resonated with me, with respect to life today in general and fixing a political eye on just about everything (media, entertainment, charity, friendships, education) - "Not a mention of the joy of the Sixties and their sense of grievance stole from students then and threaten to take now. It's enough to make me grab my beat-up megaphone and holler forth to future generations that life is not all grim, that one does not betray a cause by embracing the beauty of a moment, that the Sixties have no right to deprive you, as they did us, of the exuberance of living and the joy of learning too."
Life often looks grim, as we divide and are divided; we need to allow ourselves some leeway to enjoy life without thinking about microagressions and such.
The bit about Sarge (fresh in my mind) was also poignant.
One passage stood out that resonated with me, with respect to life today in general and fixing a political eye on just about everything (media, entertainment, charity, friendships, education) - "Not a mention of the joy of the Sixties and their sense of grievance stole from students then and threaten to take now. It's enough to make me grab my beat-up megaphone and holler forth to future generations that life is not all grim, that one does not betray a cause by embracing the beauty of a moment, that the Sixties have no right to deprive you, as they did us, of the exuberance of living and the joy of learning too."
Life often looks grim, as we divide and are divided; we need to allow ourselves some leeway to enjoy life without thinking about microagressions and such.
The bit about Sarge (fresh in my mind) was also poignant.
July 1, 2017
Although the book's subtitle, "Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s", would lead you to think this is a work of social commentary or history, it really isn't. It's more of a personal memoir, and is bathed in the warm somewhat melancholy glow of a man who has done pretty well for himself looking back with some regret.
I can identify with some of his experiences, especially as he describes his college years. But his analysis of the 60s, while hard to disagree with, is a bit generic and superficial. That leaves you with the author's personal story, which on the whole is not so interesting. But it is well-written, and in the words of the book jacket, warm and intimate.
I can identify with some of his experiences, especially as he describes his college years. But his analysis of the 60s, while hard to disagree with, is a bit generic and superficial. That leaves you with the author's personal story, which on the whole is not so interesting. But it is well-written, and in the words of the book jacket, warm and intimate.
September 20, 2020
Published in 2017, this may be the most necessary and useful book for understanding 2020 America; yet, unlike other books of the sub-genre (e.g Frum's How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade that Brought You Modern Life (For Better or Worse) (2000)), this book is as much memoir as analysis. It's humane, reflective, wise, poignant, and, at times, poetic.
Like Manchester's Goodbye Darkness and Graves' Goodbye to All That, it's full of both beautiful prose and profound insight into the times. Manchester and Graves were both writing through the lens of war. Wilkinson, in a sense, is too: a cold, cultural war that is still cresting and yet to reach its high water mark.
Like Manchester's Goodbye Darkness and Graves' Goodbye to All That, it's full of both beautiful prose and profound insight into the times. Manchester and Graves were both writing through the lens of war. Wilkinson, in a sense, is too: a cold, cultural war that is still cresting and yet to reach its high water mark.
January 11, 2021
Prescient
I'm writing this on Monday January 11, 2021and I had to look at the copyright as I finished the book. Judge Wilkinson's last chapter could have been written today as advice on how we, as a nation, can heal. We cannot turn away from what we have done for, to, and with each other. The cognitive dissonance we feel is our pride and our shame sharing the same space inside our heads and our hearts.
I'm writing this on Monday January 11, 2021and I had to look at the copyright as I finished the book. Judge Wilkinson's last chapter could have been written today as advice on how we, as a nation, can heal. We cannot turn away from what we have done for, to, and with each other. The cognitive dissonance we feel is our pride and our shame sharing the same space inside our heads and our hearts.
September 1, 2020
Personal memoir and reflection of the 1960s. Interesting reflections on growing up during the period and observations that seem similar to today - another indication that we seem to be reliving the 1960s to some extent.
Overall, a decent but not great book. Some great turn-of-phrases but okay analysis.
Overall, a decent but not great book. Some great turn-of-phrases but okay analysis.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews