BOOM! Voices of the Sixties, personal Refletions on the 60s's and Today--Tom Brokaw--An entirely different book, and kind of book, than The Greatest Generation. Brokaw comments throughout a large number of interviews on the 60s, what happened, why it happened, how it happened and various theories and consequences which he relates to the societal changes of the sixties. Brokaw was part of the sixties as a reporter, witnessing it and trying to make sense of it from the perspective of his mid-west background at the time, and continues through the book to do the same. If definitive answers to the questions are the goal of the reader, in my opinion the reader will be disappointed. However, Boom! Serves well to bring focus to any discussion of “the sixties” and its aftermath.

WORLD WITHOUT END—Ken Follett—Fifty six years of turbulent history and cultural change (1327-1361) are packed into this superior 1014 page historical novel. Billed as a ‘sequel’ to his Pillars of the Earth, Follett takes the reader to a time 200 years after Pillars in the same fictitious community in England, Knightsbridge. The lives of four characters, and those many others with whom they have to deal, form the spine of the novel. As previously, Follett weaves into his story the lifestyles of the entire society; including, but not at all limited to, medicine, law, foods of various levels of society, the functioning of the feudal state and it’s change to a mercantile state, religion and it’s various beliefs and practices, the abuses (as we would see them today) of the Church and State, manners of dress, sexual mores and attitudes, the development of architecture and engineering, 100 Years War, the Plague, as well as various other miscellaneous customs. One reviewer commented he or she had read that Follett introduced a new plot line every 10-20 pages. Whether he does or not, the book remains compelling to read, one of those books (as Pillars of the Earth and Harry Potter) I didn’t want to end. Great stories, great history, fascinating reading.