Reviews

Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America by Philip Jenkins

lydia_cap's review

informative reflective slow-paced

2.5

jordanjones's review against another edition

3.0

This book was clearly written, and well researched. It was occasionally witty, but what I appreciated most about it was the journalist's independence, where Jenkins states what people on the left were saying, and what people on the right were saying, without judging either, even though he might state an agreement with one and a disagreement with another point of view. His coverage of the paranoia around everything that could befall children, and how the affect on children colored so many scares from child abuse, to drugs, to pornography, to tobacco, was insightful. It's something that everyone who lived through this period in America will recognize, but might not have put into the same patter Jenkins demonstrates.

A well constructed gloss of the history, with occasional nods to artistic and literary trends.

llysenw's review against another edition

4.0

Absolutely excellent survey of the 60's, 70's and 80's. While I never thought my life experience would end up in a history book, I remember almost every one of the events here. The author does a fantastic job of tracing what happened in the 70's was presaged by the 60's and followed by the 80's and why the hedonistic 60's resulted in the near fascism of today. The breadth of the book is remarkable but only goes deep for key events. Still, that doesn't take away from any of the book's effect.

Excellent read.

5easypieces's review

4.0

I can't think of another book that more succinctly spells out how we got where we are now. Utterly insightful, and thoroughly researched. I appreciate Jenkins' willingness to not take the accepted wisdom at face value and go deeper.

jenniferbbookdragon's review

4.0

Excellent history, although very focused on negative trends. I lived through the mid 70s to mid-80s he is talking about and it wasn't quite as hysterical as it sounds. Good points about how the extremism of the 60s led to the Reagen era.