What do you think?
Rate this book
1967: The Year of Fire and Ice
Blazing hot meets icy cool in a momentous year in US history
On New Year’s Day in 1967, the 200 million Americans who lived in the United States were about to experience a fascinating, exciting, and sometimes bewildering twelve months that for many formed an iconic portion of their lives. Despite the fact that the coming year produced no Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or 9/11 attack, the nation still underwent dramatic changes in everything from support for the Vietnam War to approval of candidates for the 1968 presidential election to attitudes toward sex with strangers and what constitutes the status quo.
Almost without significant forewarning, Americans in 1967 witnessed a simultaneous cooling of Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union while the war in Vietnam exploded into a white-hot conflict that inflicted nearly two hundred American battle deaths a week. Meanwhile, young people at home were alternately listening to the “cool” sound of the Beatle’s new “Sgt. Pepper” album and Jim Morrison’s plea to get ever higher in “Light my Fire.” On television an emotional, passionate James T. Kirk shared an Enterprise bridge with the cool and logical Mr. Spock.
Victor Brooks explores what happened—and in some cases, did not happen—to these two hundred million Americans in a national roller coaster ride that was the year 1967. He chronicles a society that proportionally had far more young people than was the case five decades later, with a widely publicized generation gap that produced more arguments, tension, and anguish between young and old Americans than any 21st century counterpart. 1967 is a fascinating, wide-ranging exploration including topics ranging from the first Super Bowl, the beginning of the 1968 presidential campaign, the social impact of the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco, and the American combat experience in an expanding war in Vietnam. The book represents a reunion of sorts for Baby Boomers as well as a guidebook for younger readers on how their elders coped with one of the definitive years of a pivotal decade.
On New Year’s Day in 1967, the 200 million Americans who lived in the United States were about to experience a fascinating, exciting, and sometimes bewildering twelve months that for many formed an iconic portion of their lives. Despite the fact that the coming year produced no Black Friday, Pearl Harbor, or 9/11 attack, the nation still underwent dramatic changes in everything from support for the Vietnam War to approval of candidates for the 1968 presidential election to attitudes toward sex with strangers and what constitutes the status quo.
Almost without significant forewarning, Americans in 1967 witnessed a simultaneous cooling of Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union while the war in Vietnam exploded into a white-hot conflict that inflicted nearly two hundred American battle deaths a week. Meanwhile, young people at home were alternately listening to the “cool” sound of the Beatle’s new “Sgt. Pepper” album and Jim Morrison’s plea to get ever higher in “Light my Fire.” On television an emotional, passionate James T. Kirk shared an Enterprise bridge with the cool and logical Mr. Spock.
Victor Brooks explores what happened—and in some cases, did not happen—to these two hundred million Americans in a national roller coaster ride that was the year 1967. He chronicles a society that proportionally had far more young people than was the case five decades later, with a widely publicized generation gap that produced more arguments, tension, and anguish between young and old Americans than any 21st century counterpart. 1967 is a fascinating, wide-ranging exploration including topics ranging from the first Super Bowl, the beginning of the 1968 presidential campaign, the social impact of the “Summer of Love” in San Francisco, and the American combat experience in an expanding war in Vietnam. The book represents a reunion of sorts for Baby Boomers as well as a guidebook for younger readers on how their elders coped with one of the definitive years of a pivotal decade.
236 pages, Hardcover
Published November 21, 2017
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 2, 2018
I just read this book straight through on my inthrall reading. This is an excellent blend of popular culture and commentary on an interesting and important year in my own personal life. Prof. Books includes a lot of details I did not recall and rounds out my own memories. I like the balance of the account. The description of the Vietnam War seems not to take into account of some recent histories of Hanoi's War and who was conducting the Tet Offensive but account of Tet is balances and is included in the history 1967 because it belongs there.
Pro. Brooks actually covers about 15 months beginning in 1966. The mixture of contrasting films, music, television, politics, and much else. The interplay of sources and narratives works well. This was "an iconic " period in the lives of many of us. I will probably browse this book fly norm time to time. It certainly appears at a good moment for me.
Pro. Brooks actually covers about 15 months beginning in 1966. The mixture of contrasting films, music, television, politics, and much else. The interplay of sources and narratives works well. This was "an iconic " period in the lives of many of us. I will probably browse this book fly norm time to time. It certainly appears at a good moment for me.
July 22, 2022
The year 1967 is mostly remembered for the Summer of Love, but there was plenty more to it, from Vietnam to the Six-Day War, color television to groundbreaking movies, sports to music, politics to protest.
This is a broad-brush review of the year, in some ways setting the stage for the momentous year of 1968, which has been examined any number of times. It has a lot to say and brought up some things I hadn't thought of.
However, I kept finding typos and factual errors, more than I should have for such a short book. I also get annoyed when an author keeps using the title in the book. Instead of saying, for example, "In 1967, ... " the author keeps saying "In this year of fire and ice, ... ." Yuck.
This is a broad-brush review of the year, in some ways setting the stage for the momentous year of 1968, which has been examined any number of times. It has a lot to say and brought up some things I hadn't thought of.
However, I kept finding typos and factual errors, more than I should have for such a short book. I also get annoyed when an author keeps using the title in the book. Instead of saying, for example, "In 1967, ... " the author keeps saying "In this year of fire and ice, ... ." Yuck.
March 16, 2024
Repetitive and lumbering but informative
I learned (or relearned) much from a time when I was a teen. The work reminded me of a lot of events. However, there was much repetition of the same facts not just in each chapter and even within the same chapter. It felt, at times, like reading through stacks of notecards obtained from extensive research. I am glad I read this but am not sure I enjoyed the read
I learned (or relearned) much from a time when I was a teen. The work reminded me of a lot of events. However, there was much repetition of the same facts not just in each chapter and even within the same chapter. It felt, at times, like reading through stacks of notecards obtained from extensive research. I am glad I read this but am not sure I enjoyed the read
April 29, 2018
Pretty Good
There were typos that could pull you out of the narrative and I struggled through the incredibly detailed chapters on sports (not my thing) but all in all a worthy history.
There were typos that could pull you out of the narrative and I struggled through the incredibly detailed chapters on sports (not my thing) but all in all a worthy history.
June 28, 2019
This books is kind of a very brief, general overview of 1967, and unfortunately, riddled with small errors.
April 13, 2025
It was ok. A pretty short book that covered 1967 in politics, movies, TV, music, and sports.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews