Given their massive numbers, the Baby Boomer represent a huge market, and publishers are just beginning to tap in with books that will appeal to them.
There’s more than enough non-fiction to go around, but not much fiction.
The first real entry of some note into the Baby Boomer fiction niche is “We Had It So Good,” by Linda Grant.
Grant examines what happened to the Baby Boomer generation through the experiences of four primary characters who, like many of the generation, thought they could change the world: from their idealistic student days at college through the realities of growing up and growing older.
(Hear her interview with Diane Rehm of National Public Radio here.)
As a Guardian reviewer noted:
“This is at once an attack on the 1960s generation, painting them as smug, hypocritical hippie capitalists, and also a defence, showing that they, like everyone, just did their best. Like the best novels, it makes you examine your own moral compass alongside that of its characters.”
There are lots of non-fiction books that seek to appeal to Baby Boomers.
Among them (and this is by no means comprehensive):
“Caught in the Draft: The Effects of Vietnam Draft Lottery Status on Political Attitudes,” by Robert S. Erikson and Laura Stoker
This looks back at the Vietnam War years and the draft lottery, a time that Baby Boomer men of a certain age remember well. Depending on the lottery number their birth date drew in the lottery, they faced the prospect of war or peace. The book seeks to show a correlation between lottery numbers and whether these men were hawks or doves.
The lower the lottery number -- and the more prone the men were to be drafted into the war -- the higher the chance that they were doves.
“One National Under AARP: The Fight Over Medicare, Social Security, and America’s Future,” by Federick R. Lynch
Lynch looks at the influence of AARP on American politics as they apply to the aging issues that Baby Boomers now hold near and dear, particularly Social Security and Medicare. He questions whether Boomers, by default, are empowering AARP to speak on their behalf.
“FIRE AND RAIN: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970,” by David Browne
Brown, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone Magazine, tells the story of four iconic albums of 1970 and the people who made them. Through the lens of the Beatles’ “Let It Be”, Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, CSNY’s “Déjà Vu”, and James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James”, Browne chronicles how the music and the lives of the musicians was a year of transition, from what the 1960s were to what the 70s would become.
And there are self-help books galore for Baby Boomers, offering advice on everything from grief to money management to self-awareness.
Some samples:
“Fortytude: Making the Next Decades the Best Years of Your Life -- through the 40s, 50s, and Beyond,” by Sarah Brokaw, LCSW, PCC is a licensed therapist based in Beverly Hills, California, who specializes in relational dynamics.
“The Five Ways We Grieve: Finding Your Personal Path to Healing After the Loss of a Loved One,” by Susan Berger, who lost her parents at a young age and offers advice to people who’ve lost loved ones.
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