In Praise of Decadence

Can revolution and anarchy be good for you? Did the protests of the 1960s lead to a new American freedom? This author bravely says "Yes!" The great power of the Baby Boom generation was felt a decade earlier when this group was still in diapers: America's economy was energized by the needs of this massive influx of new citizens. As the Boomers grew, their numbers demanded more schools and teachers, graduating to a new awareness in America's colleges and universities as the largest generation ever to flex its political and social muscle. While many conservatives seek to downplay the 1960s as an overpublicized time of drug-induced sexual irresponsibility and fruitless demonstrations, nationally recognized journalist and commentator Jeff Riggenbach passionately demands that we re-evaluate the social and political significance of the time, and the revolutions of thought that it inspired. In Praise of Decadence shows how the perceived social weaknesses of the turbulent '60s actually demonstrated that it was a seminal decade which sparked a demand for individual freedom among the broad-minded Boomers. "The Movement" they began cast aside the dated values and ideals of their parents and inspired an outpouring of creativity that reverberated throughout society in the decades that followed. With a delightfully refreshing libertarian sense of the political right and left, Riggenbach exposes the myths and misinterpretations surrounding anarchism, liberalism, populism, and conservatism, as well as the term "decadence," which so many have used to describe various periods in our nation's history. Boldly testing the boundaries of political and social thought, In Praise of Decadence cuts through the hazy rhetoric of the grumpy critics, the political pretenders, and the dreamy "good old days" to show that as the Boomers' hair goes gray, Americans will fully realize, much to their surprise, that the wave of individualism celebrated so many years ago is stronger now than ever.