The Mindset Lists of American History
From Typewriters to Text Messages, What Ten Generations of Americans Think Is Normal
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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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The Mindset List began in 1998 as a project out of Beloit College to give its faculty and staff an idea of what has "always" or "never" been true for new classes of students. The List has since gained a massive following online, resulting in this book that covers ten generations beginning in 1898 and ending with projections about the class of 2026. Each chapter begins with a Mindset List, usually following the always/never format, and provides a narrative dramatizing what it was like to grow up at that time. For example, the class of 1944 "had time to bob their hair and sit on flagpoles just for the hell of it." Following pop culture developments in mediums such as film/television and baseball over the years is particularly enjoyable. Young readers might find the later chapters somewhat out of touch, and anyone might chuckle at the conjecture regarding the class of 2026, but overall the book is a charming history of the major events and scientific advancements that have affected American life.
