Where Have All the Flowers Gone? The Fall and Rise of the Woodstock Generation

Book by Casale, Anthony M., Lerman, Philip

This superficial history of the past two decades chronicles major events in politics, natural and man-made disasters and trend-setting movies and TV shows. It is the sort of book that could have been assembled from clips in any newspaper morgue. The distinctive feature is the interweaving of the stories of certain members of the Woodstock generation who tuned out of the mainstream, chief among them Abbie Hoffman and Ken Kesey, both of whom remained protesters long after 1969. Hyperbole runs rampant, as when the music fest at Woodstock is declared "a focal point in American history." It is journalists Casale and Lerman's thesis that the Woodstockers faced two decades of disillusionment and now, in their 40s, stand ready to run the world. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With publication set to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Woodstock concert, this large-size book celebrates that famous few days when hundreds of thousands of young people came together to share music and love and created something that has come to represent everything good about the Sixties generation. Written in short, snappy paragraphs with lots of you-are-there dialogue, this is primarily a "whatever-happened-to" about those who created Woodstock, those who participated, and those who were there. (This was Abbie Hoffman's last interview). What emerges is that Woodstock still remains an important icon for people whose formative years were the 1960s; and though 20 years have passed, and the tempo and tenor of the times have changed drastically, the spirit of Woodstock still stands as the hope of youth and an entire generation. Recommended. Two related books are Joel Makower's Woodstock: The Oral History, LJ 6/15/89, and Jack Curry's Woodstock: The Summer of Our Lives, LJ 3/15/89.
- Ed. -- Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Lib., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.