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Thursday, May 10, 2012

HT Recommends - Books set in the Early 60s

Reader Kim made the following request:

I'm wondering if you or your readers have any suggestions for good historical fiction based in the early '60s; particular interest in JFK, Cuban missile crisis, MLK 'I have a dream' march.

We haven't been reading books set in the 60s lately and in fact we wouldn't mind receiving a few recommendations ourselves. Anyone has good suggestions to share with us?
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6 comments:

  1. LauraMay 10, 2012 at 12:41 AM

    I enjoyed Lizzie's War (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/165861.Lizzie_s_War)

    i'll be interested in what others say too because I'm quite interested myself

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  2. Julie at Outlandish DreamingMay 10, 2012 at 2:24 AM

    King's 11/22/63 is very good if you like time travel and it all leads up to the Kennedy assassination. More of a bird's eye view of life back then.

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  3. lauraMay 10, 2012 at 1:52 PM

    Here is a nice list too http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3532.Literature_of_Social_Change#4667024

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  4. LizMay 11, 2012 at 8:04 PM

    Message from Málaga (1971) by Helen MacInnes.

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  5. Travis EhrenstromMay 17, 2012 at 12:18 AM

    This is one of my favorite time periods to study. The 60's provided such a unique shift in American philosophy, and the growing pains of our nation were finally starting to become present.

    I've found it pretty difficult to find any great 60's historical fiction, maybe because it sits in this odd time period where everyone was writing nonfiction. I have a laundry list of incredible nonfiction books from the time period, but have come across little to no fiction pieces.

    My favorite however has got to be "Catcher in the Rye," a wonderful story set in New York, where the main character is experiencing the same growing pains that the nation is.

    Thanks for the post!

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  6. JulieMay 24, 2012 at 4:12 AM

    I really enjoyed T.C. Boyle's "drop city". It's more about the hippie culture and the back-to-the-land movement. What about actual fiction from the 60s? As I recall, "Peyton Place" was really huge back then. Wonder what that was all about. I'd like to find out.

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