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Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything Hardcover – March 15, 2011

by David Sirota (Author)

48 customer reviews

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Wall Street scandals. Fights over taxes. Racial resentments. A Lakers-Celtics championship. The Karate Kid topping the box-office charts. Bon Jovi touring the country. These words could describe our current moment—or the vaunted iconography of three decades past.

In this wide-ranging and wickedly entertaining book, New York Times bestselling journalist David Sirota takes readers on a rollicking DeLorean ride back in time to reveal how so many of our present-day conflicts are rooted in the larger-than-life pop culture of the 1980s—from the “Greed is good” ethos of Gordon Gekko (and Bernie Madoff) to the “Make my day” foreign policy of Ronald Reagan (and George W. Bush) to the “transcendence” of Cliff Huxtable (and Barack Obama).

Today’s mindless militarism and hypernarcissism, Sirota argues, first became the norm when an ’80s generation weaned on Rambo one-liners and “Just Do It” exhortations embraced a new religion—with comic books, cartoons, sneaker commercials, videogames, and even children’s toys serving as the key instruments of cultural indoctrination. Meanwhile, in productions such as Back to the Future, Family Ties, and The Big Chill, a campaign was launched to reimagine the 1950s as America’s lost golden age and vilify the 1960s as the source of all our troubles. That 1980s revisionism, Sirota shows, still rages today, with Barack Obama cast as the 60s hippie being assailed by Alex P. Keaton–esque Republicans who long for a return to Eisenhower-era conservatism.

“The past is never dead,” William Faulkner wrote. “It’s not even past.” The 1980s—even more so. With the native dexterity only a child of the Atari Age could possess, David Sirota twists and turns this multicolored Rubik’s Cube of a decade, exposing it as a warning for our own troubled present—and possible future.

Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything

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Product Details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345518780
ISBN-13: 978-0345518781
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #805 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Pop Culture > General
- #1185 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources
- #5410 in Books > History > World

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Customer Reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		48%
4 star		15%
3 star		6%
2 star		8%
1 star		23%

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83 of 96 people found the following review helpful

How this country got stuck in the Reagan rut

By 1. on March 18, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

According to David Sirota, the United States has been unable to solve its current problems due to narcissism, nostalgia for the fifties, militarism, paranoia about the government, and racial divisions which were created or became exacerbated in the eighties. Sirota believes that the eighties created an era of narcissism in which the individual counted more than the team or the nation. An example of this eighties style narcissism, that Sirota mentions, is Michael Jordan, who played for himself and not the team, and this autistic view of teamwork, was replicated in the film "Hoosiers," in which the hero of the movie goes against his coach and the team. So much attention to the self, Sirota contends, led to the cult of personality in the eighties in which people looked to celebrities or politicians on an individual basis to look for answers, and Americans gave up on the idea of collective effort in solving the problems of the nation. Due to this deification of the individual, Americans thought they could be just like the fictional Gordon Gekko or the real Micheal Milken by making millions of dollars by taking advantage of their fellow citizens. The only impediment to this Randian version of the hero from achieving his or her potential was the government in which pop culture took a dim view of in the eighties. Sirota describes how the movie "E.T." depicted government agents as being thugs out to terrorize suburbia. Sirota states that the government was seen as the problem and not the solution in television shows like the "A-Team," "Knight Rider," and movies such as "Die Hard," "Rambo," and "Lethal Weapon," in which it was okay to go rogue against the laws of the United States.Read more ›

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68 of 85 people found the following review helpful

Some good points, but hard to take seriously

By Dienne TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on April 25, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

How is it that we went from the Civil Rights 60s to the anti-war, "Free to be You and Me" 70s to the "War Games" 80s? And how has that transition impacted our current culture and political landscape? These are among the questions David Sirota sets out to explore and answer in this book.

Sirota opens by describing his own experience of the 80s - how the decade had its own feel and style and even language, which language he still finds himself thinking in. He grew up believing that the movies, television and other cultural accoutrements which formed the basis of his formative years were just good, clean, exuberant fun. Yet as the 80s shows, images and themes have resurfaced in the last few years, Sirota has come to believe that there was something much more powerful - subversive even - about the 80s. He argues that there was a deliberate, conscious, propagandistic re-working of previous generations to create a new 80s' mass mindset of materialism and martial/military dominance.

Sirota argues that 80s propaganda deliberately re-worked previous generations to create the twin myths of "The 50s" and "The 60s". The 60s were portrayed as a period of radical upheaval and violent instability - a "bad" time in our history (the gains of the Civil Rights Movement thereby getting swept under the rug). The 50s, meanwhile, were portrayed as the antidote - a stable, peaceful time when children were respectful, father knew best and America had "values". If we want to "return" society to its pre-1960 "good", we need to throw out the hippies and return to the clean-cut, all-American 50s.

Sirota next explores the 80s generation's heroification of certain individuals (mainly sports and movie stars, personified by Michael Jordan) and the companion message, "Just Do It.Read more ›

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31 of 39 people found the following review helpful

Ronald Reagon?.......the actor!

By drp103 on March 20, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I'm about half way through the Kindle Edition, and I must say, this book really picks away at your brain by quickly driving home its message. And I'll have to confess, I'm now a believer. Of course, it wasn't very difficult as I grew up in the '80s.

In a nutshell, the Author believes that all of our current political worldviews about war and economics-and that of our politician's-were influenced by many of the TV shows, commercials and pop culture references that we grew up watching as kids during the 1980's......WOW.....I know, what a stretch, right! But it's so TRUE.

For example, thanks to the A-TEAM, Americans simultaneously LOVE the military and military types like Sarah-the Commie-Watcher-Palin and John-the Maverick-McCain, but HATE the government-even though they're the exact same thing!

It's why we believe that if we "JUST DO IT" we will become rich and famous like Micheal Jordan.

And it's why we still believe that "greed is good". In fact, it's doing better than ever. All because of our affinity for the GO GO '80s.

According to some Americans, a group of pansy-assed hippie, spitter-on'ers are to blame for losing the War in Vietnam, and by the early '80s they could not accept it any longer. So, we as a nation, had had enough, and through TV, we revised our past. That's why one man-RAMBO!-went back to Vietnam: to finally do the "right" thing and win the war; something that our inept, lefty government could never do.

Of course it all started with one of the decade's biggest icons: the ACTOR!-turned-President Ronald Reagan-the "right" man for the "right" job.

I could go on and on but I don't want to give away too much. You get the idea. It's all very, very interesting.

Anyone who grew up in the '80s should get a kick out of reading this book. Snort a line and ENJOY!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Socialists are awesome should be the subtitle

The book should be summed up "the government is awesome and Libertarians are crazy". Not a single sentence is worth wasting your time or money.

Published 2 months ago by Dick Fitz

Biased Enough?

I was born in 1965. Graduated in '84. This book isn't the 80s I knew. Author has an axe to grind so he's rewriting history. Strange stuff here. Brainwashing to glorify the 50s? Read more

Published 10 months ago by HMCrabtree

Don't bother

Big disappointment. I had to give up after the first 50 pages or so, as this was simply a collection of incoherent ramblings, and not a logical look at the 1980's influence on... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Laura

Good Book by a Good Author

This is a good book that makes some interesting points. It is thought provoking and worth reading. Of course the conservative cooks disapprove (as indicated by most of the... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mateo

Important Read to Understand Contemporary US Politics

Sirota has written a really accessible book about the connections between the 1980s and modern day era in both politics and pop culture. Read more

Published 20 months ago by Andrea Love

An education in our own childhoods

As a child of the 80s, I was naturally blissfully ignorant of the deeper meaning of the majority of my entertainment, and I have only the vaguest memories of the major issues I... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Dana Sweeney

I absolutely, positively, hate hate HATED this book...

Full disclosure: I was born in 1991, but I'm obsessed with the culture of the 80s. From the music to the movies to the video games to the fashion, I can't get enough of it. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Will Mann

clarifies the cultural impasses generated after the civil rights era

This book is a work of inspiration , good memory , articulate research by an 80s kid who may as well have also grown up during the civil rights movement. Read more

Published 22 months ago by enigmatic aethers

very insightful

Really eye opening for anyone who enjoys current events and politics. Also makes for a great conversation starter when speaking on the subject of politics.

Published 23 months ago by avid book reader

A completely biased view of the 80's ... And 90% wrong

David Sirota, an admitted Liberal, and 5 years old in 1980 uses every liberal stereotype and revisionist history to paint the exact false narrative and lie they teach kids today,... Read more

Published on December 31, 2013 by Perry Polletta