This blog post now open for discussion...

I've been doing the background research for my second novel this week and I've found some really cool stuff (which is all I'm going to say about that). But one of the parts of this project is a need to quickly summarize the various decades of US History (over the last 50+ years) in order to get the gist of the prevailing mood. Now, I can only speak from my own perspective, of course, which is why I thought I'd open this post up for discussion. I need to see if you all agree with my very short and highly subjective views of American History and prevailing national mood over the last 50 + years.

So, here goes...

1950's: Repressed, conservative, commercial, belief in progress, square, and delinquent. I see the 50's as a time when America got back into the business of doing business. This, to me, is the period when we became world leaders not by conquest but by working harder and longer than anyone else. It was almost as if after WWII we weren't going to squander all that sacrifice - but as a result, we became way too serious, like the guy at the office party who just can't relax. Which leads us to...

1960's: Liberal, Free Love, World Changers, Experimenters, Radicals, and arrogant. I see the 60's as the reaction to the 50's. What does all this progress and business mean if not to change the world? We can't keep doing things the old ways - that just leads to more war and more destruction. So lets change everything - society, law, environment, everything! And to hell with you if you don't join us!

1970's: Angry, disillusioned, hungover. I see the 70's as the aftermath of the 60's. All of the things that were "good" about the 60's suddenly ran smack dab into reality. The freeing of your mind with drugs - how about a society suddenly rampant with drug addicts? Free love and social change - how about a breaking down of families and a lack of care for schools and children? Positive change and high moral ground - how about Watergate and the Vietnam war? The 60's were over and all we had left was the headache.

1980's: PARTY! and a growing sense of responsibility. I see the 80's as a time when we renewed our national spirit by realizing that it was okay to enjoy ourselves a little. After the excesses of the 60's and 70's, we were ready to just have fun. But, at the same time, all those radical hippies were now a little older and a little wiser and were educating the young on their responsibility to change the world. Changing the world became a chore, a job, with regular working hours. We worked on nuclear disarmament and created bans on smoking and danced the night away.

1990's: Spoiled. I see the 90's as a time when the party of the 80's went on - long after it had any reason to keep going. And as a result, it was a decade where the excesses of a party that has gone too long started to haunt us. We became obsessed with trivial things and turned sports and entertainment into social events that quickly dwarfed the importance of reality. And, as a result, the party took on a life of its own and we simply became pawns of it.

2000's: So far, I see the 2000's in much the same way as I feel about waking up late for work. There's that initial wake up call, followed by a great deal of rush and fear, followed by a renewed focus on being sure that you never wake up late again. I think the entire country has been running around frantically trying to make up for our lack of attentiveness before. But I think we're just starting to settle back down and get down to business again.

Well, that's the short of it. Tell me what you think. Am I even close?