A window into our preoccupations as a generation, Hollander’s perceptive book provides Gen Xers (and those who study them) a way to make sense of our distinctive histories: as a group whose parents essentially left us to our own devices, for better or for worse. It comes as a relief and a revelation to learn where we fit in and what marks us as a tribe.
— Meg Tyler, Boston University
This powerful collection of essays frames Gen X, once seen as disaffected, lost and alienated, as a transforming force, working to understand what it means to be alive in a complex and ever-changing world. All of this is framed within popular culture, from the counterculture legacy of Gen X in Twin Peaks to the music of Pearl Jam. Hollander has gathered engaging voices, personal and academic, that raise questions about legacy, revolution, adulting, and aging. This is a timely collection that will sharpen the reader’s understanding of generational identities, and Gen X’s particular role as an agent of creative change.
— Emily Miller Mlčák, Life Coach and Former Faculty Associate, Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking
A thoughtful collection which follows real and fictional Gen Xers, represented in music, film, tv, and life, from the Karate Kid to Jay-Z – through marriages, children, careers, even into the afterlife – as they figure out how, or even whether, to grow up.
— Jeffrey Halprin, Professor Emeritus, Nichols College