As I mentioned in my review of Liz Prato’s book Kids in America, Generation X captured some attention in the 1990s. I remember there were quite a few books trying to figure Generation X out. Ha, as if we’d let them.
However, in the early 1990s, I read Neil and William Strauss’s book 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?. And at the time, I found it to be interesting and quite infuriating. It just seemed as if the Gen X lifespan was filled with so much doom and gloom.
But why did Howe and Strauss label Generation X the 13th generation? Well, it’s because they were the 13th generation to know the United States since its inception. Also, unlike other demographers, Howe and Strauss did not consider 1965-1980 to be Gen X birth years. Instead, they considered Gen X birth years to be from 1961-1981. Twenty years!
Another reason why they used the number 13 is due to the idea that it’s unlucky (Friday the 13th, anyone?). And many Gen X-ers have dealt with a string of bad luck, especially as they came of age-family breakdown, crumbling schools, gang violence and the crack epidemic, AIDS, political malfeasance, the high cost of higher education, workplace woes, and several recessions. It’s as if Gen X was dealt a bad hand.
13th Gen is divided into three sections. Part One looks at how the generations preceding Gen X shaped and molded them and how we also compared to them, mainly the Greatest Generation, the Silent Generation, and yep, the Baby Boomers. It also takes a look at the historical experiences that affected Gen X from Watergate, Vietnam, gas shortages, the Jonestown mass suicide, Three Mile Island, the Iranian hostage crisis, the election of Reagan, AIDS, and the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986.
Part Two is named “The American Dream Has No 13th Floor.” This section takes a look at how various issues like race, sex, money, education, the workplace, and politics affects 13ers and 13ers stake and influence when it comes to these issues.
And in the third part, Howe and Strauss examine the 13er generation’s impact on America, especially when it comes to pop culture. Remember, this book came out in the early 1990s as grunge and hip hop were becoming popular. Howe and Strauss also peer into their crystal balls and predict where the 13th generation will be as they head into middle age in the 21st century.
Howe and Strauss aren’t alone in it’s examination of 13ers. Actual 13ers, most notably Ian Williams, crash into Howe and Strauss’s digital conversation (this is when the internet was in it’s infancy) to give their two cents. Or should I say their 13 cents? The crashers waste no time telling Howe and Strauss what it is like to be a 13er, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And Ian has fun sharing his favorites when it comes to pop culture.
13th Gen is filled with fun illustrations by Robert John Matson, various factoids and lists, and compares 13ers with other generations who were stuck with a bad reputation, but turned out to be pretty awesome in the end.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading 13th Gen when I first came across it in the 1990s. I got the vibe that Howe and Strauss truly wanted to understand my generation. And I appreciated their lack of stereotypical Boomer condescension. And I really liked the crashers adding their unique voices, especially Ian Williams, who used to have a blog I read.
But reading 13th Gen decades later is also enlightening. And it’s interesting how the prediction for my generation played out now that we are in our 40s and 50s. Did Howe and Strauss’s predictions turn out to be true? Well, to me, I think my fellow 13ers need to read this book and make up their minds.
And as for the term 13er? Well, I used it for a brief time, but you can’t go wrong with a classic like Generation X.
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