Generation Reinvention 60: In Defense of the Boomer Legacy

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Several years ago I read a controversial book entitled “The Greater Generation: in Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy.” The book presents an articulate argument in support of the Baby Boomer generation, and it is an incisive offense aimed at the generation’s many critics. This book presents a provocative journey into a generation’s soul with tightly-crafted pattern recognition, consensus validation, memory restoration, and achievement exaltation. It is defiantly uplifting while cautionary, weaving historical insights with perceptive, sometimes stinging commentary.

And that’s the focus of this episode of Generation Reinvention. The book’s author is my guest today, and I promise you an engaging conversation, whether you embrace what Boomers have accomplished or you are disgusted with the generation.

Leonard Steinhorn is a full-time professor of Public Communication at American University. His expertise includes American politics, culture and media, strategic communication, the presidency, and recent American history. He is author of “The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy,” and co-author of “By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race.” He has published in books, journals, the Washington Post, Salon, Politico, and International Herald Tribune, among others. Steinhorn was twice named AU Faculty Member of the Year. He serves as political analyst for FOX-5 News in Washington, DC. Before joining the AU faculty, he spent 15 years as a political consultant and speechwriter.