I saw this book and I thought, HERE WE GO AGAIN! Someone described this to me as a book about Gen X pride. I started reading it and thought, great. Another dude trying to ramble about 80s-90s pop culture like Chuck Klosterman. But no!

I was wrong. This book is different. The book has two main arguments but comes to a completely different conclusion. The first argument is that there are three distinct generations vying for control of pop culture in American right now: Baby boomers, millenials and, stuck in the middle, Gen Xers. The second argument is that Gen Xers have talents that neither side has and has both changed the world from where the boomers left off and will bring about a more serious, lasting change than their younger siblings, the millenials, ever could.

The conclusion seems to be: Gen X, get off your asses and change the world (as cliche as that sounds… and Gen X HATES cliches).

He explains all of this while acknowledging a few important limitations. 1) The idea of “generations” is constructed and it is impossible to prove they even exist in any kind of a scientific sense. 2) Generations, as he defines them, are fluid and are not strictly defined by age.

Though I was born in 1982, I found myself associating myself with the Xers. Did the book make me want to prove to the world that I can make something of myself? Not really. Did it give a funny, entertaining look at the generation and all of the events that helped define it (and what makes us different from the baby boomers)? Absolutely! A fun, quick read. Thumbs up.