Perspective

As with all appropriate research, Strauss and Howe have begun with an hypothesis that there are only four generational types of Americans, and that these types are born in an orderly, sequential pattern throughout American history. From this perspective, they proceed to march through history, naming and describing each of eighteen generations within the context of the events and moods of the historical periods in which they grew from children to senior citizens.

Certainly, the authors have made an excellent case in support of their hypothesis because the research is so thorough and the evidence so carefully and accurately presented. As well, they attempt to merge other theoretical perspectives into their own, in order to demonstrate that their perspective virtually "ties them all together." Aberrations, that is, events that arrive either too early or too late, are explained as the occasional exceptions related to human behavior, which cannot...