The Way We Were - The Baby Boomer Story

Forward by Tony Testa of the Duprees.

Set against the tapestry of music, events, technology, fads, and people that shaped them and the world, this is the story of one the largest and most diverse groups in American history. It’s the journey that defined their lives as seen through the eyes of four main characters. They are not perfect but their flaws represent many in our generation. After all, we were a product of our environment.

BBs grew up under a mushroom cloud in a world chilled by a cold war and divided by an iron curtain. Maybe you didn’t go to Woodstock or participate in campus protests. Perhaps you never wore bell-bottoms, love beads, or flowers in your hair, but if you were born between 1946 and 1964, you are a Baby Boomer. From ponytails to flat tops with ducktails, BBs we on to become hippies, yippies, yuppies, and finally the establishment. They went from drive-in movies to drive-through banks and from American Bandstand and hula hoops to finding themselves and Vietnam.

It was a wild ride. The 1950s were a time of innocence; the 1960s and age of protest; the 1970s a decade of disco and discovery. The 1980s were marked by money, Wall Street, and three-piece suits. By the 1990s BBs were solidly establishment, even having gained the White House for the first time. The journey was joyous, challenging, and enlightening. Enjoy it because the past starts here…