Born at Right Time: A History of the Baby Boom Generation

by Doug Owram

It is rare in history for people to link their identity with their generation, and even rarer when children and adolescents actually shape society and influence politics. Both phenomena aptly describe the generation born in the decade following the Second World War. These were the baby boomers, viewed by some as the spoiled, selfish generation that had it all, and by others as a shock wave that made love and peace into tangible ideals. In this book, Doug Owram brings us the untold story of this famous generation as it played out its first twenty-five years in Canadian society.

Beginning with Dr Spock's dictate that this particular crop of babies must be treated gently, Owram explores the myth and history surrounding this group, from its beginning at war's end to the close of the 1960s. The baby boomers wielded extraordinary power right from birth, Owram points out, and laid their claim on history while still in diapers. He sees the generation's power and sense of self stemming from three factors: its size, its affluent circumstance, and its connection with the 1960s the fabulous decade of free love, flower power, women's liberation, drugs, protest marches, and rock 'n' roll. From Davy Crockett hats and Barbie dolls to the civil-rights movement and the sexual revolution, the concerns of this single generation became predominant themes for all of society. Thus, Owram's history of the baby-boomers is in many ways a history of the era.

Doug Owram has written extensively on cultural icons, Utopian hopes, and the gap between realities and images all powerful themes in the story of this idealistic generation. A well-researched, lucid, and humorous book, Born at the Right Time is the first Canadian history of the baby-boomers and the society they helped to shape.

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Genres: Nonfiction, History

416 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1997

Reviews

[Enid Wray]

I bailed on this book (even though the first expert referenced (p3) was a woman named ‘Enid’… and there are not many of us around!!)

Maybe it’s because demographics was (part of) my trade in stock… My education and teaching background is in geography - of which demographics figured heavily (as did epidemiology… but that’s another conversation given present circumstances). Consequently there was little here that was new to me, as far a trends and patterns and understandings are concerned.

The real problem with this book - for me at this moment in my life - is that it is far too ‘academic.’ I’m past the point in my life where I want to read academic treatises. Don’t get me wrong, I love non-fiction.. but what I want these days is good literary non-fiction… and this is not that. Additionally, where April 2020 is concerned, I need to be reading something that truly engages me and removes me from our present reality… and this is not that. (I read this book for one of my book clubs - it was the April book for the month... otherwise I'd never have picked it up or read it of my own accord).

There is nothing wrong with this book, but it is a book of its time... and that time was 1996! The writing is so paternalistic. Ugh! And, connected to this, it excludes any discussion of some key segments of our population - indigenous and immigrant (although in that it certainly is reflective of the time and is hard to criticize, but…). Honestly, it’s repetitive and boring. The author also gets bogged down in minutiae of detail which I just glossed over.

I used another book, which came out at almost exactly the same time, in my teaching career. That book, Boom Bust and Echo, by David Foot was an entirely different creature. Foot’s book, a bestseller for at least a couple of years, was also born out of academic curiosity. But, Boom Bust and Echo was light hearted, easy to digest, and accessible to all.

Try as I might, it’s hard not to compare these two titles… and this one comes up short.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Owram looks at the Baby Boom generation in Canada, and while he uses a lot of examples from south of the border it is a good primer for anyone interested in popular culture.

"The counter-culture of the 1960s was, like the youth movement of the early nineteenth-century, a romantic revolution, resisting the preeminence of the rational and scientific world."

[Smooth Herman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the book was very informative and interesting, which gave insight into the post-war world that the baby-boomer generation had been born into. However, the second half of the book focuses too much on the decade of the sixties. Moreover, in this second half, there is a distinct dearth of detail in regards to topics a reader of my generation would, most commonly, have no idea about (Port Huron statement, Kent State, Rochdale College, the Waffle movement, Altamont). These topics could surely have been expanded.
In some ways, the book is too intellectual and I found it had a tendency to repeat over and over again the same essential message - the baby-boomers were special and made their prescence felt in society. It's readable at that level, but at the same time, you may find it uncomfortably disjointed.

Many of the issues raised in the second half (affecting the lives of university students and youth in general in the 60's) can be brought forward to the present time wholesale.

[Tawney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Owram attempts the first book length synthesis of the histories of the Baby Boom Generation in Canada. The only problem is the autobiographical tone of the book. Since this is primary historical work, it takes the most direct narrative of the generation and details it out from the post war era till the end of the 60s. My biggest criticism is regarding those who are left out: aboriginal peoples and immigrants (who are not really a minority). The American point of view is overwhelming representative, but can be forgiven due to the relative dirth of information on this generation in Canada. That said, the book is an entertaining read, well written, and really well researched. It should not be too heavily faulted for its self-conscious lack of mention that it is only beginning in this field of research.