The 1960s were a fascinating time for America, with massive social and cultural changes that can still be felt to this day. Let’s take a look at four great books to read if you want to explore that time period.
Where Did Our Love Go - The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George
No conversation about the 1960s is complete without exploring the music of that era, and what music defines the decade in America as much as Motown? The legendary Detroit record label broke down barriers as it brought black music into the American mainstream and this book details just how it happened, running us through the business and musical considerations that made the classic songs that are still as catchy today as the day they came out.
Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion by Robert Gordon
As a counterpoint to Motown’s smoothed out pop sounds, Stax Records, which operated out of Memphis, had more grit and soul, and this book gives an inside look at the label, with its dramatic rise and fall,l and the culture that it grew out of. As it informs us about the music, it also gives us a glimpse at what life was like in the segregated South at the time.
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Hippies and LSD are part of the cultural fabric of the 1960s, and no book chronicled these subjects as vividly as this did. As it follows the author Ken Kesey and his followers known as the Merry Pranksters, it gives us an intimate look into their wild world.
Dispatches by Michael Herr
This book was published in 1977 and it was informed by the author’s time covering the Vietnam war as a correspondent with Esquire magazine. It is considered to be one of the definitive books about the era, and its focus on the soldiers was something unprecedented, and though the writer says much of it is fictional, it feels so real that it reads like nonfiction.