Whether we lived through it or not, the Sixties was the most formative and transformative decade of most of our lives: from the Kennedy years to Woodstock, the decade that keeps delighting us, angering us, teaching us, and haunting us.

Fifty Years Ago Today: The Sixties Then and Now is a fascinating, entertaining, and provocative history tour of the music, movies, events, and issues of the period, and their relevant and revelatory connections to the present day…or how the time of Camelot and the Age of Aquarius can help us through the Term of Trump.

There are constant reminders today of how the Sixties affect current trends, ideas, and political and cultural landmarks. Black Lives Matter leaders reach back to the legacy of Martin Luther King, and African American musicians like D'Angelo and Kamasi Washington draw on the music of Sly Stone and John Coltrane. ‘60s figures and events are constantly memorialized and celebrated in movies (Get On Up, All the Way, Selma). Sgt. Pepper’s suggests OK Computer. Stanley Kubrick’s movies are a huge influence on Fury Road and Westworld. Strike! becomes Resist! The Women’s March is compared to the Vietnam Moratorium. And the glory of the moon shot reminds us how desperately we need a program for the climate crisis.

A nonfiction companion to Stein’s Cats’ Eyes, a novel set in New York in the Sixties, Fifty Years Ago Today: The Sixties Then and Now combines portraits of the era’s leading artists and thinkers, cultural commentary, and vivid on-the-scenes memories of pivotal events with insights on how the legacy of the era can lead to future cultural and political awakenings. Fifty Years Ago Today is alive with the passions, the still burning controversies, and the lessons of the Sixties at a time when they’ve never been more vital to America and to the world.