Living on the Edge

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When we think of the radical changes that transformed America during the twentieth century, our minds most often go to the fifties and sixties: the Civil Rights Movement, changing gender roles, and new economic opportunities all point to a decisive turning point. But these were not the only changes that shaped our world, and in Living on the Edge, we learn that rapid social change and uncertainty defined the lives of Americans born at the turn of the century. The authors mine data from the famous Berkeley Longitudinal Study to reveal the daily lives, opportunities, and struggles of the 1900 generation. Their early lives were uniquely situated in historical time and especially marked by the often-transient migration pathways their own parents took across the Atlantic or westward-journeys prompted by fires, floods, and earthquakes, by the shift from agriculture toward industry, by the early illnesses and deaths of parents and siblings, and by World War I--all before picking up the story of how the Great Depression and World War II carried significant outcomes for them, too, alongside their children. Most surprising about the book is just how much about the 1900 Generation can be applied to life today, despite the gap of a century. There are remarkable commonalities in renegotiating roles for women and men, in reorganizing marriage and family roles and relationships, in managing a dramatically changing economy, and in coping with and adapting to hardship. In Living on the Edge, we have an intimate glimpse into not just the history of our country, but the feelings, dreams, and fears of a generation remarkably similar to those of our own time"--