SOCIAL SCIENCES

Last Season of Innocence

The Teen Experience in the 1960s
by Victor Brooks
Last Season of Innocence: The Teen Experience in the 1960s. Rowman & Littlefield. 2012. c.216p. ISBN 9781442209176. $35. HIST
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Brooks (history, Villanova Univ.; Boomers: The Cold War Generation Grows Up) here reviews the academic, social, and cultural experiences of American preteens and teenagers from 1960 to 1969. He organizes his book both chronologically and thematically to provide a narrative of the changes in teenage culture over the course of the decade. He ably compares the generally accepted historical narrative that focuses on political protest and psychedelic music with data such as music sales and radio charts, popular magazine features, and television ratings to show that, in fact, the experience of teenagers varied wildly throughout these years. A particular strength of the work is the author's focus on the early 1960s, as this period has had far less scholarly attention than the end of the decade.
VERDICT There is a general note on sources, but no direct citations via endnotes, which may disappoint serious readers. However, while numerous other works have examined the cultural history of the 1960s, Brooks's book is one of the few to focus solely on the American teenager. As such, highly recommended for followers of modern American cultural history, although the lack of endnotes is a drawback.
Reviewed by Kathryn Wells, Fitchburg State Univ. Lib., MA , Jun 15, 2012
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