What book attracted you to S&H's theories?

Although I checked Generations it was really two things -- a column in the Washington Post in the wake of President Clinton's election (first Boomer President!) and an Atlantic Monthly article that piqued my interest and spurred me to buy the book.

It was Generations for me. I saw it sitting in my American History teacher's bookshelf when I had her class in my Junior year of high school (2001-2002) and started skimming around the book looking at the diagrams and descriptions of various generations and their personas.

And it clicked. The descriptions for the generations fit well with what I was observing, but I never encountered the vehicle that would explain how until I picked up Generations. I would then go about annoying my teacher and my classmates about describing our future "destiny" and point out how the Millenials could be the next Greatest Generation.

Since encountering The Fourth Turning I have toned down about generational theory considerably.

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

Although I checked Generations it was really two things -- a column in the Washington Post in the wake of President Clinton's election (first Boomer President!) and an Atlantic Monthly article that piqued my interest and spurred me to buy the book.

The Atlantic Monthly article is what hooked me, as well, though I actually bought and read 13th Gen first - followed by Generations, ASAP.

I was captivated by a full-page spread in the Las Vegas Sun, when I was down from Seattle visiting my parents, in December 1996. It was essentially an interview with Strauss and Howe describing the Theory behind the The Fourth Turning and its implications for America and the world... with the Generation/Turning lineup presented as a series of color diagrams not unlike those in the book. I bought the book itself about a month later, the first week it came out.

13th gen for me. Loved it, helped put lots of feelings into words. Then, several years later I thought "wonder if those dudes wrote anything else?" And found T4T.

Came across Generations while browsing in the public library.

It had a cover that implied electo-shock therapy. :arrow: :arrow: :arrow:

I guess I'm the underachiever in the group. I read several articles on S&H and T4T - one in, of all places, Parade Magazine. The ideas clicked with me, because I already felt there was a change regime that moved things forward, and the cyclic nature made instance sense. I finall bought and read T4T 5 years later.

Never put-off the opportunity to procrastinate.

I enjoyed The Fourth Turning a lot and read it cover to cover. So I voted for it. Before that, I was referred to this site by Mr. Strauss during an interview on local radio. However, I was first attracted to the theory from an article in my local paper about Generations. I didn't read the whole book though. Browsing through it, it did not captivate my interest as much. I am more interested in ideas than life stories.

Millennials Rising was sitting on a desk in the library, and I was intrigued by the thought of reading another book about generations.

I saw 13th Gen on a table at the Berkeley student store, and the cover got my curiosity. I read it and was fascinated, my imagination captured. Then I look for other books by the same authors, found Generations, and reading it was a revelation.

I saw Generations while browsing in a bookstore and picked it up and I first read most of it while stuck in jury duty waiting all day to be called up. I had a bunch of questions and wished there was some way to talk to the authors. Several years later I found the (old) forum.

.....

The fourth turning for me. I was stationed overseas and looking for something to do other than get stinking drunk. I saw the cover and read the book. It was very good at explaining things but the jury was still out in my mind until Sep11. The response of the people of the country seemed to be confirming the theory.

I was fortunate enough to catch Mssrs. Strauss & Howe on one of the earliest C-SPAN Booknotes programs (late-1990?) talking about "Generations." Utterly fascinating stuff. I went out and bought a copy the very next week, and have loved their articles in USA Today, the Atlantic, and their succeeding volumes ever since. And have gone on to check out a number of other generational works and related history works, such as Appleby's Revolutionary War generation and Fischer's volumes. I certainly appreciate these avenues having opened to me.

Wes

I bumped into Generations at a bookstore in the summer of '91 and I was hooked from there.

Originally Posted by wesvolk

I was fortunate enough to catch Mssrs. Strauss & Howe on one of the earliest C-SPAN Booknotes programs (late-1990?) talking about "Generations." Utterly fascinating stuff. I went out and bought a copy the very next week, and have loved their articles in USA Today, the Atlantic, and their succeeding volumes ever since. And have gone on to check out a number of other generational works and related history works, such as Appleby's Revolutionary War generation and Fischer's volumes. I certainly appreciate these avenues having opened to me.

Wes

Great to hear from you. Have you been lurking?

I first heard the authors on a radio talk show in the summer of 1997. I was hooked immediately! I purchased the Fourth Turning and read parts of it initially but had to shelf it (School and work took prescidence) until Christmas in that year then I read the whole thing in 2 days.

It really hit right on target and explained things I saw in my everyday life. I guess you could say it ties everything together very well.

When 9/11/01 occurred I immediately thought of the book and was fascinated at the people around me and how they reacted to the event.

For the last 2 years I have visited the discussion boards and read just about every post. I didn't join until just recently.

Last summer While recooperating from a surgery I read Generations.
The fourth is still my favorite though.

Originally Posted by The Wonkette

Originally Posted by wesvolk

I was fortunate enough to catch Mssrs. Strauss & Howe on one of the earliest C-SPAN Booknotes programs (late-1990?) talking about "Generations." Utterly fascinating stuff. I went out and bought a copy the very next week, and have loved their articles in USA Today, the Atlantic, and their succeeding volumes ever since. And have gone on to check out a number of other generational works and related history works, such as Appleby's Revolutionary War generation and Fischer's volumes. I certainly appreciate these avenues having opened to me.

Wes

Great to hear from you. Have you been lurking?

Hello back, Jenny... err, Ms Wonkette.

Keeping busy in another Food Stamp world here in Minneapolis. Still doing County-level training for new workers. Our state trainers give them the basic policy and then I do a week of procedural training here, extra lab training, and recently special FS error-project training...plus their Orientation classes and some other specialized courses. Very busy - we hired 7 groups of 10-15 last year, and so far groups in January, February, May, June, (and next Monday, group 5 starts this year).

Although this is a bookmarked site, I rarely if ever visit on company time, and here at home, I've been busy with lots of other material. Actually, I saw the cultural wars were still hard at it this Spring with the whole Terri Sciavo discussion, so I had ducked out again. Popped back in today on a quiet day at the office, to see what kind of reactions we'd had to the O'Connor retirement and Robert's nomination. Gee, just that one thread, huh? Surprising.

Anyway, good to see lots of familiar characters, even with the ever-changing monikers, still inhabitating the site. Maybe I'll have to start visiting a bit more often again. Catch up with the Lambs, my esteemed fellow Minnesotan from the far North Mr. Saari, and other familiars like Kiff - maybe even the Cynic or two.

Would love to chat Food Stamps with you someplace, sometime. Am not happy with the President's 2006 budget proposals, or with what's happening in your Ag Department with people like Tom Dorr now getting confirmed by the Senate.

Thanks for remembering. Take care.

Wes

I was checking out my local bookstore, bored and looking for something to read, and saw one thick book titled "Generations" down on the bottom shelf. It happened to be a softcover, so was relatively inexpensive, and looked kind of interesting, so I gave it a try.

Ten pages into it, I knew it was a good buy. Two am next morning, I knew I had better try to get some sleep. For my next sleep-deprived four days, I waited for work to end with more than my custumary enthusiasm.

I still remember feeling everything clicking into place as I read the book. I can't say it changed my life, but suddenly life around me seemed so much more explainable.

There's never been another copy in my local bookstore.

Originally Posted by wesvolk

Maybe I'll have to start visiting a bit more often again. Catch up with the Lambs...

The other one's entered a state of "Silence of" late. Me? This is the only liberal website I can tolerate. And, yes, it's nice to hear from you, Mr. Volkenant. (Hope I spelled that right.)

So, what book attracted you to S&H's theories? It certainly wasn't The Fourth Turning. A certain Sunday newspaper magazine, USA Today, I think, ran a cover-story on Strauss and Howe's new book in 1997. My wife, having heard some of my past flirtations with theories of apocalypse, thought I might be interested and so brought it to my attention. I'll never forget my reaction: "What a bunch of fear-mongering clowns!", I thought. I discarded the rag as I would flush used toilet paper.

No kidding.

And then something happened that slowly but surely tossed the whole twisted malaise back in my lap: kids began killing kids en masse. There was Jonesboro, and then Columbine and then...

So I gave S&H another look. Thankfully my local library didn't have Fourth Turning, but only Generations. Great read. Their theory, as captivating as I find it, solves, in my concluding analysis, nothing whatsoever. It doesn't even come close to passing the prediction "acid test". It merely makes us more comfortable in our own skin in troubling times. The effect of their theory is kind of like being inebriated. The inebriated just become more of what they already are. With S&H, the liberal can really be a liberal, now! The kool-aid drinker can really gulp it down, now! The moderate can really just wait around, finger sticking in the political winds, now!

And so it goes... with all theories of history. Nature gobbles them up and spits them out, one by one, along with the gullible fools who take them too seriously.

I just hope the next generation of youngsters have a chance to die just like I hope to.

Old.

Yep, entirely posible, Devil.

Until life shows the change in attidudes predicted by the theory to occur between now and 2010, it remains a collection of easy predictions. (Any idiot could have predicted that things would go on the way they have. Many have. Especially movie producers.)

The test will come in the next five years or so.

Uh, I am not the "Devil," but merely his "Advocate." Sorta like a lawyer, who defends the indefensible. Or, like the guy who rises up on the Senate floor and compares Gitmo to Gulags.

In short, you have your devils to defend and I have mine. :wink:

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

Uh, I am not the "Devil," but merely his "Advocate." Sorta like a lawyer, who defends the indefensible.

Alliteratively, Attorney for Asmodeus, Belial's Barrister, Lucifer's Lawyer or Satan's Solicitor.

As for the topic question, I first learned about Strauss and Howe's Generations from Harry Dent's book The Great Boom Ahead.