A window into our preoccupations as a generation, Hollander’s perceptive book provides Gen Xers (and those who study them) a way to make sense of our distinctive histories: as a group whose parents essentially left us to our own devices, for better or for worse. It comes as a relief and a revelation to learn where we fit in and what marks us as a tribe.

Meg Tyler, Boston University

This powerful collection of essays frames Gen X, once seen as disaffected, lost and alienated, as a transforming force, working to understand what it means to be alive in a complex and ever-changing world. All of this is framed within popular culture, from the counterculture legacy of Gen X in Twin Peaks to the music of Pearl Jam. Hollander has gathered engaging voices, personal and academic, that raise questions about legacy, revolution, adulting, and aging. This is a timely collection that will sharpen the reader’s understanding of generational identities, and Gen X’s particular role as an agent of creative change.

Emily Miller Mlcák, Life Coach and Former Faculty Associate, Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking

A thoughtful collection which follows real and fictional Gen Xers, represented in music, film, tv, and life, from the Karate Kid to Jay-Z – through marriages, children, careers, even into the afterlife – as they figure out how, or even whether, to grow up.

Jeffrey Halprin, Professor Emeritus, Nichols College