The Mindset Lists of American History: From Typewriters to Text Messages, What Ten Generations of Americans Think Is Normal [Hardcover]

Tom McBride (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2011 | ISBN-10: 0470876239 | ISBN-13: 978-0470876237 | Edition: 1

Snapshots of the U.S.'s last nine generations—from the creators of the Mindset List media sensation

Just as high school graduates in 1957 couldn't imagine life without zippers, those of 2009 can't imagine having to enter phone booths and deposit coins in order to call someone from the street corner. Every August, the Mindset List highlights the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of that year's incoming college class. Now this fascinating book extends the Mindset List approach to dramatize what it was like to grow up for every American generation since 1880, showcasing the remarkable changes in what Americans have considered "normal" about the world around them.

• Expands Tom McBride and Ron Nief's popular annual Mindset Lists to explore the mindset of nine generations of Americans, from 1880 to the future high school graduates of 2030
• Offers a novel and absorbing way to understand the frame of reference of Americans through history, whether it's the high school grads of 1918, who viewed riding an elevator as a thrill second only to roller coasters, or those of 2009, who have always thought of "friend" as an active verb
• Puts a human face on the evolution of historical changes related to technology, the struggle for rights and equality, the calamities of war and depression, and other areas
• The annual Mindset List garners extensive media attention, including on Today, The Early Show, the NBC Nightly News, CNN, and Fox as well as in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, and hundreds of international publications

Whatever your own generational mindset, this book will give you an entertaining and important new tool for understanding the unique perspective and experience of Americans over more than a hundred and fifty years.

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From the Book: A Peek at the Mindset Lists
In The Mindset Lists of American History Tom McBride and Ron Nief show what has been normal what has "always" or "never" been true for ten generations of American high school graduates, starting with the class of 1898, born in 1880, and ending, speculatively, with the class of 2026, born in 2008. Here are some examples, with special attention to technology.

For the high school class of 1898, born in 1880
The best way to buy something cheaply from afar has always been the Sears catalog.

Cash has always been registered on a new machine with push keys.

Members of their class include Tom Mix and Christy Mathewson.

Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace have always been dead.

For the class of 1918, born in 1900
Punch cards have always been used to control textile looms and fairground organs.

Voting machines have always been used in Federal elections.

Members of their class include Ernie Pyle and Aaron Copeland.

Casey Jones and Sir Arthur Sullivan have always been dead.

For the class of 1931, born in 1913
They've always been able to receive books and other goods through the mail via parcel post.

Erector sets have always inspired budding engineers.

Members of their class include Jimmy Hoffa and Gerald Ford.

Rudolf Diesel and George Westinghouse have always been dead.

For the class of 1944, born in 1926
Cars have always had radios.

Phonographs have always been able to change the records for you.

Members of their class include Leslie Nielsen and Queen Elizabeth II.

Mary Cassatt and Annie Oakley have always been dead.

For the class of 1957, born in 1939
"Stockings" and "nylons' have always been synonymous.

Cars have always had air conditioning.

Members of their class include Michael Moorcock and Lily Tomlin.

Sigmund Freud and Anthony Fokker have always been dead.

For the class of 1970, born in 1952
Showerheads have always been adjustable.

Bowling alleys have never needed pin boys.

Members of their class include Maureen Dowd and Vladimir Putin

Curly Howard and Eva Peron have always been dead.

For the class of 1983, born in 1965
The Commodore 64 has always been the bestselling personal computer.

A mouse has always been a rodent.

Members of their class include Brooke Shields and Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Malcolm X and Edward R. Murrow have always been dead.

For the class of 1996, born in 1978
Babies have always been able to be conceived in test tubes.

Video games have always had high scores and multiple lives.

Members of their class include Dirk Nowitzki and Marissa Miller

Golda Meir and Harvey Milk have always been dead.

For the class of 2009, born in 1991
An album has always been a shiny silver disk.

The Wide World has always been Webbed.

Members of their class include Emma Roberts and The Chicago Bulls (World Champion Version)

Martha Graham and Miles Davis have always been dead.

For the class of 2026, born in 2008
They've never held an album.. music or photo.

"Kindle" has always been a noun.

Wal-Mart has always been America's second-largest retailer.

Members of their class include Nahla Ariela Aubry (parents: Gabriel Aubry and Halle Berry) and Sunday Rose Kidman Urban (parents: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman).

Tim Russert and Odetta have always been dead.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

** From the creators of the Mindset List **

Snapshots of the last nine generations and the one just born

"The Mindset Lists of American History is a wonderfully entertaining, irreverent, and insightful look at the way each American generation creates its own history—and how quickly the next one plows it over.McBride and Nief should be hailed as America's cultural timekeepers."—Jim Simon, Seattle Times

Just as high school graduates in 1957 couldn't imagine life without zippers, those of today can't imagine having to enter phone booths and deposit coins in order to call someone from the street corner. Every August, the Mindset List highlights the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of that year's incoming college class. Now this fascinating book extends the Mindset List approach to dramatize what it was like to grow up for every American generation since 1880, showcasing the remarkable changes in what Americans have considered "normal" about the world around them and showing how quickly and dramatically what is normal can change.

"Indispensable! The list has become one of thehighlights of the year in our newsroom. It's excellent atteaching us history—and making us feel really old."—Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News

About the Author

TOM McBRIDE is a professor of English and Keefer Professor of Humanities at Beloit College, where he was also the longtime director of the first-year students' program. RON NIEF is the former public affairs director of Beloit College who developed the Mindset List in 1998.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470876239
• ISBN-13: 978-0470876237
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #443,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native Texan, I'm a sixty-something professor at a small liberal arts college in the Upper Midwest. During my nearly forty years of teaching I've inhaled about 22.7 pounds of chalk dust, taught everything from How to Avoid the Comma Splice to How to Read Shakespeare, and published articles on the aforementioned Shakespeare, plus Saul Bellow, Raymond Carver, and Sherlock Holmes (though the latter isn't an author, I once published a learned article on dogs in the Holmes stories). In 1998 I got involved with our then Public Information Director, Ron Nief, with something called The Annual Mindset List, a quick and dirty way to tell oldsters about the assumptions of entering college students. It was a hit. Within a year I was on the Today Show: I have been interviewed by Matt Laurer (who first called me "Tim"), hobnobbed in the green room with Katie Couric, and discussed trapper keepers with Al Roker. They all send their regards. Since then, we get more media attention that I've breathed chalk dust; our website gets over a million hits a year; and Ron and I have written "The Mindset Lists of American History," which applies our famed methods to American life since 1880 and moving forward to 2030. Brian Williams calls it "Indispensable" and the AP calls it "mesmerizing." We have a Facebook site with daily quizzes and have worked with high schools on how to teach history via the "Mindset List Method." We're now discussing apps and calendars and are trying to start a public radio series. As one of my students once said, "with your dress code you should definitely stay on the radio." I always try to learn from my students.

For more on me and my partner Ron Nief--everything you want to know about The Mindset List project--visit us on Facebook (The Mindset List) or at www.themindsetlist.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Look At American History July 14, 2011

By Dr. D

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is an excellent read, superbly rendered and completely entertaining. It is at once witty and wise. It enables the reader to better understand his own place on the American landscape and gives him an stunning glimpse both of what preceded him and what lies ahead. It is a virtual time capsule filled with the gems, treasures and trinkets of relevant historical trivia that mark the thinking, fashions, fads and times of ten generations of Americans. But don't be fooled. This is much more than a mere 'history' book. It is wonderfully written and you'll be delighted by the author's prose which is at once clever, wry and lucid. I highly recommend it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Book That Gives Some Perspective to the Term "Generation Gap" ... September 13, 2011

By DACHokie VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Generations seem to look at one another through a "grass is always greener" lens, where the current always thinks their parent's and children's' generations has it better of for one reason or another (think of the "I had to walk ten miles in snow to get to school every day" stories). I always thought life was simple for my parents in that I assumed they grew up in a time where people could always get by on less and didn't have as much "stuff" to worry about. Same with my young children ... they have it made because everything in their lives is geared toward instant gratification (where I actually had to GET UP to change the TV channel when I was a kid). With THE MINDSET LISTS O AMERICAN HISTORY, authors Tom McBride and Ron Nief offer some insight on what life was like growing up in America over the past century and clearly illustrates that no generation was void of hardship or perks.

The authors give the reader perspective of what life was for successive generations of Americans every thirteen years. Each chapter represents the year that its "class" members would have graduated from high school (from the "class of 1898" to the "class of 2026"). With this format, virtually every reader has some idea of what their parents and grandparents endured during their childhoods. By introducing a list of 50 "mindsets" at the beginning of each chapter, the reader gets a quick glimpse of what was considered "normal" for a particular generation. These 50 mindsets are then thoroughly broken down and explained in a manner that allows the reader to understand how previous generations came of age throughout the past century, as well as projecting what's in store for the latest crop of newborns (Class of 2026). THE MINDSET LIST puts the various generations in perspective and illustrates how relative they are to one another. Each and every generation has dealt with ups and downs (economic growth/turmoil and war/relative peace), as well as being the beneficiary of technological and sociological advancement. It is amazing to realize that certain aspects of everyday life we take for granted now were once considered life-altering not too long ago (like zippers or ready-made, store bought clothing). If anything, the book allows readers to detach themselves from the present and see life through the eyes of those belonging to older and younger generations (how many of those in the class of 1918 lived through the first airplane flight as well as man landing on the moon). Seeing the progression of these generational mindsets illustrate how each generation's great achievements become the ordinary fabric and/or foundations of future generations (to the class of 1918, a typewriter was no less amazing than an iPad is to the latest generation).

While the mindset lists of past generations are presented as entertaining and thought-provoking Americana history lessons, an occasional whiff of political opinion taints some of the mindset lists and their explanatory text. For example, I found the book's depiction of the class of 1983 as somewhat suffering under the rule of Reagan a bit off-base. As a member of the class of 1984, the Reagan years represented booming optimism for most everyone I knew in high-school and college ... we no longer feared the threat of the Soviet Union/nuclear war and future opportunity seemed limitless if desire and a little elbow-grease were applied. Additionally, the projected mindset list for the class of 2026 combines some bizarre speculation with a little wishful thinking on behalf of the authors. Somehow environmental issues will dominate the youngest generation's mindset list, even though as the book was being written, the world was steaming toward economic melt-down and maybe even another global war is in the horizon. The books final chapter presents the authors' somewhat sincere rationale/excuse for the bombastic predictions of the class of 2026's mindset list, but I don't buy it.

THE MINDSET LIST is an entertaining read with an added dose of nostalgia. For some, the book may explain our parents are so "square" and for others, it may offer reasonable justification for grandma or grandpa's weirdness. While THE MINDSET LIST may still make some people believe life was better in the past or that future generations will have it made; I think most may find themselves realizing the grass is greener right where they are at.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept but has issues July 16, 2011

By James D. Crabtree VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I like the idea of "framing" generations, identifying what their social attitudes might have been and what the would or would not have known based on their experiences. However, it does tend to be redundant at times, which can be distracting. Overall, a useful book but more one that will encourage you to think, rather than make you memorize facts.