Class of '66: Living in Suburban Middle America [Paperback]

Paul Lyons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 1994 | ISBN-10: 1566392144 | ISBN-13: 978-1566392143

In the midst of the Vietnam war, sit-ins, counter-culture, and campus rallies, the 1966 graduating class of a South New Jersey coast high school came of age on the margins of political and cultural upheaval. Rather than presenting the stereotype of Sixties youth scene, this study reveals this group to be conservative teenagers shaped by mainstream loyalties to god, country, and family. These 'Coasters' white, middle-class, suburban baby-boomers were spectators of rather than participants in the decade's activism. Yet, even as they were missed by the powerful currents of the times, their lives were touched by those currents more than is suggested by the stereotype of Richard Nixon's "Silent Majority." Paul Lyons interviewed 47 members of the class of 1966, recording recollections of their school days, politics, work, family life, community, and expectations for future careers and family. Each chapter is complemented by personal profiles of individual 'Coasters'. Removed from both the urban experience and that of the elite suburbs, these teenagers disprove popular cultural assumptions that all baby boomers, with few exceptions, went to Woodstock, protested against the Vietnam War, engaged in drug experimentation, or joined the hippie counter-culture. Instead, Lyons' study explores how their then relative ambivalence to political and cultural rebellion did not preclude many 'Coasters' from indirectly incorporating over the years certain core Sixties values on issues of race, gender, mobility, and patriotism. Author note: Paul Lyons is Professor of Social Work at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Seeking to challenge the notion that all members of the '60s generation "raised holy hell as they grooved on acid rock, smoked grass, dropped acid, and fought against authority in general and the Vietnam War makers in particular," Lyons interviewed 47 graduates of the class of 1966 at Coastal High School, the fictionalized name of a southern New Jersey high school in the suburbs of Atlantic City. The different chapters-"Vietnam," "The Sixties," "White on Black," "Growing Up Female"-hit all the major topics, and the interviewees come across as honest and frank about their experiences. As subjects, however, they are nearly uniformly bland. The very things that define them-solid, middle class, largely untouched by the social upheavals of the '60s-preclude much variety in their voices, and the author falls into the trap of trying to prove his point in every chapter, so that the subjects often seem chosen because they fit his thesis. The attempt to give voice to a group not often heard is worthy, but a more dynamic approach is necessary to make the result interesting. The author is professor of Social Work at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This study of 1966 graduates of a suburban high school on the south Jersey shore leads Lyons--a Richard Stockton College social work professor--to challenge the usual simplistic assessments of baby boomers then and now and of the long-term impact of 1960s movements. Many of the white, predominantly middle-class students of "Coastal High" began their lives in Atlantic City or Philadelphia, but their families' move to the conservative Republican coast quickly insulated them from urban (and national and international) concerns. Coastal's 1966 grads remember JFK's death, but little about what he said or did. Politics and other controversial issues were seldom discussed in their homes. Civil rights was not an issue; most knew no African Americans. Few grads went to Vietnam--and even fewer demonstrated against the war. Despite some experimentation, alcohol remained the drug of choice for most. Many--especially those who went to work and married soon after graduation--ignored the outside world, just as their parents had done. Lyons organizes his study around seven topics (home life, school, Vietnam, the 1960s, race, gender, and career/family/community); each chapter includes profiles of several 1966 graduates. Following Gans, Lyons stresses the continuities linking members of the class of 1966 to their parents and grandparents: most, he concludes, "selected out the less risky, more absorbable pieces" of 1960s core values while retaining their suburban focus and middle-class individualism. Mary Carroll --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press (August 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566392144
• ISBN-13: 978-1566392143
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,530,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.