Coming Apart: An Informal History of America in the 1960's Review

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(More customer reviews)O'Neill's Coming Apart was written in 1969 -- a fact that would seem to disqualify it as cultural history. But in fact the author's closeness to the zeitgeist, as well as his freewheeling willingness to speak his mind and waffle around with mummified standards of "argument" and "evidence" make for a truly good narrative. The author is an extremely smart, well-informed person who writes equally well about politics, diplomacy, the drug scene, Vietnam, and everything else that seemed to define the decade, and does so with a verve that makes you feel like you are there -- or at least there with the author. It is brilliantly informative, and funny at times. Deserves the Parkman Prize if there were any justice in the world.

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William O'Neill's masterly chronicle of the twentieth century's most confounding decade is an immensely readable book that combines wit with learning and seriousness with entertainment. Its emphasis is inevitably on politics, but it offers a brilliant yet balanced portrayal of the New Left, the counterculture, the civil rights movement, the plunge into Vietnam, the crisis in the universities, and the freakier aspects of the popular culture. It has endured as one of the great interpretations of the sixties.

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From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century Review

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(More customer reviews)This almost everything, (but not) pop culture book, is really very good, almost great.
It has classic TV shows, movies, top 40 music, Fads,
commercials, classic toy's, classic candy bars, great Icons, comics, and much more, popular and not very popular, about stuff from the 1950's to 1990's.
Babyboomers should have fun browsing in this book, but younger and older should like this book also.
The biggest problem with this book, is putting it down.
A book with, The Beatles, Jonny Quest, Coca Cola, Captain Kangaroo, Gilligan's Island, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Mini Skirts, The Flintstones, and much much more in one book can't be all bad.
Almost everything? almost, and almost everybody, should have fun reading this book.


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More than 150 million Americans were born after the post-World War II years. Almost all of them know, remember, and hold dear to their hearts the numerous memories that stretch From ABBA to Zoom.Take a walk . . . down memory lane, you Boomers and Gen Xers! From ABBA to Zoom is sure to grab anyone born in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, or '80s. Whether you grew up watching The Huckleberry Hound Show, Johnny Quest, or Sesame Street, this cultural encyclopedia is sure to draw you into a nostalgic and fun-filled read that you just can't put down.American pop culture aficionado David Mansour spent 18 years accumulating an extensive collection of dolls, lunch boxes, board games, TV memorabilia, and other items from the 1960s through the '90s. That fascination, along with his lifelong lists--from "best toys" to "all-time coolest singers"--were the genesis for this wide-ranging volume of Boomer and Generation X treasures.Readers will relish the mere mention of some of their greatest childhood and adolescent connections, then rush to learn the well-researched details behind those icons. Farrah Fawcett's feathered hair, James Bond movies, Lost in Space, Woodstock--it's all here! In page after page, more than 3,000 references arranged alphabetically make this a true trip through the Boom Times. Totally groovy!

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Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America Review

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(More customer reviews)Hundreds of books have been written about the Beatles. Jonathan Gould read a lot of them and he wasn't satisfied. They talked about almost every aspect of the Beatles except they seemed to flash right past one of the most important things, the thing we remember most, the music.
Gould, a musician, started this project 20 years ago. He looked at the Beatles from back at the very beginning-their roots. How did they become songwriters? How did Lennon and McCartney become such a wonderful songwriting team? Who were there major influences?
He doesn't rely on the memories of those who were there 50 years ago. Instead, he looks to the original sources, the music writers and fans of that time, in the words they wrote then.
He follows the Beatles course during their short but prolific time together. He looks at many of the songs and the stories behind them-the ideas that were formed in the studio and elsewhere, influences like India, drugs, women, philosophy, etc. Little tricks and accidents changed so many songs from what they might have been to something even better.
Throughout he plugs readers into what was happening in the world as the Beatles were making their indelible mark upon it.
'T is a thing of beauty. These things needed to be said.

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