Can revolution and anarchy be good for you? Did the protests of the 1960s lead to a new American freedom? This author bravely says 'Yes'! The great power of the Baby Boom generation was felt a decade earlier when this group was still in diapers: America's economy was energised by the needs of this massive influx of new citizens. As the Boomers grew, their numbers demanded more schools and teachers, graduating to a new awareness in America's colleges and universities as the largest generation ever to flex its political and social muscle. While many conservatives seek to downplay the 1960s as an overpublicised time of drug-induced sexual irresponsibility and fruitless demonstrations, nationally recognised journalist and commentator Jeff Riggenbach passionately demands that we re-evaluate the social and political significance of the time, and the revolutions of thought that it inspired."In Praise of Decadence" shows how the perceived social weaknesses of the turbulent '60s actually demonstrated that it was a seminal decade which sparked a demand for individual freedom among the broad-minded Boomers. 'The Movement' they began cast aside the dated values and ideals of their parents and inspired an outpouring of creativity that reverberated throughout society in the decades that followed. With a delightfully refreshing libertarian sense of the political right and left, Riggenbach exposes the myths and misinterpretations surrounding anarchism, liberalism, populism, and conservatism, as well as the term 'decadence', which so many have used to describe various periods in our nation's history.Boldly testing the boundaries of political and social thought, the book cuts through the hazy rhetoric of the grumpy critics, the political pretenders, and the dreamy 'good old days' to show that as the Boomers' hair goes grey, Americans will fully realise, much to their surprise, that the wave of individualism celebrated so many years ago is stronger now than ever.
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Jeff Riggenbach (born January 12, 1947) is an American libertarian journalist, author, editor, and broadcaster.
Educated at the University of Houston and California State University, Dominguez Hills, Riggenbach began working in
journalism and broadcasting while still a student. Over a period of nearly thirty years (1966-1995), he worked in classical
and all-news radio in Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as a writer, anchor, producer, and book and music critic;
contributed articles and reviews to numerous daily newspapers, including The New York Times, USA Today, the Los
Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Washington
Times; held staff writing positions on two of California's largest dailies, the Oakland Tribune and the Orange County
Register; served as executive editor of Libertarian Review and as managing editor of the Pacific Business Review; put in
two years as the daily economics commentator for CNN Radio; and served as a contributing editor of several magazines,
including Reason, Inquiry Magazine, and Liberty Magazine. Throughout the 1980s, he produced the nationally
syndicated daily radio programs "Byline" (well known as the radio home during the '80s of Nicholas Von Hoffman, Nat
Hentoff, Michael Kinsley, Julian Bond, Howard Jarvis, and U.S. Senator William Proxmire) and "Perspective on the
Economy." Since the dawn of the new century, he has written increasingly for publication on the Internet, most notably
on LewRockwell.com, AntiWar.com, and RationalReview.com.
He has long been associated with various libertarian think tanks and foundations, creating, managing, or working on
special projects for the Cato Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Center for Independent Thought, and the Ludwig von
Mises Institute, among others. In 2005 he was named a senior fellow of the Randolph Bourne Institute.
Riggenbach's first book, In Praise of Decadence (1998), argued that the baby boomers turned out to be far more
libertarian in their personal philosophy than had been expected. His second book, Why American History Is Not What
They Say: An Introduction to Revisionism (2009), argued that political events and trends in late 20th Century America
had led to a rebirth of popular interest in revisionist accounts of American history.
Since 1992, Riggenbach has forged a busy second career as a narrator of audio books on political, economic, and
historical subjects for a number of producing organizations and audio publishers, most notably Blackstone Audio of
Ashland, Oregon.
