Generation X. They key to a good novel - Spadework

Although I'm very much a teenage product of the mid Sixties and have a better than decent memory (historian background) I still like to make sure I'm getting my facts straight. More to the point I want to ensure that I capture the flavour of thoughts and opinions from the time.

The original Generation X are in fact the Boomer generation as this paperback testifies. Printed in 1965 it began life as a collection of interviews that took place in 1964. These were conducted by the authors for a magazine to gain a picture of the changing attitudes of young people towards the rapidly changing world around them. Of special interest to me were the interviews with Mods.

I managed to get hold of a yellowing copy of this long out of print work through the internet. At 165 pages it is not exactly a weighty tome. The problem with a book like this is that at best it could only capture a tiny cross-section of opinion. Opinion not necessarily shared by all teenagers and young adults at the time. However, those it did obtain are real meat and fodder for prospective authors hunting for authentic period viewpoints. Naturally, you cannot take everything said in these interviews as completely so. There's always the temptation by young people to be ingenuous in interviews. There's an in irresistible tendency for bulling up that hint at economy with reality. That stated if you are looking for real life characterisation and perspective this is a boon book.