Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation

From the bestselling author of Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon comes a vintage Queenan tirade chronicling the evolution of his own Baby Boomer Generation. How did a generation that started out at Woodstock and Monterey end up at Crate & Barrel? How did a generation that promised to teach its children well end up with a progeny so evil they could give Damien from The Omen a run for his money? And what is so fascinating about porcini mushrooms? Professional iconoclast Queenan shows how a generation with so much promise lost its way by confusing pop culture with culture and mistaking lifestyle for life.

Queenan on The Sixties: Baby Boomers who never saw Hendrix, did drugs, locked or loaded an AK-47 in country or bedded down with a girl named Radiance now all pretend they did. It's like those Civil War reenactment buffs who have drunk so much Wild Turkey they actually think they were at Chickamauga.

Queenan on Death: A generation whose primary cultural artifact is the Filofax has enormous difficulty shoehorning death into its schedule: it's inconvenient, time-consuming and stressful. 'We don't have time to die this afternoon; Caitlin has ballet.'

Author: Joe Queenan
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 06/01/2002
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 8.49h x 5.53w x 0.57d
ISBN: 9780312420826

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 08/04/2002 pg. 20

About the Author

Joe Queenan is a contributing editor at GQ and writes the column Good Fences for The New York Times. The Author of Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon, he lives in Tarrytown, New York.