In these days of post-class analysis, what Karl Mannheim called 'the problem of generations' is especially relevant to our times. In this absorbing and wide-ranging collection the contributors mix acute theoretical observation with vivid empirical detail to cast light on a host of cultural and political questions. They have certainly set the ball rolling again, after a long period of neglect.

Krishan Kumar, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia

How do generational cultures emerge and how are such cultures transmitted? Edmunds and Turner demonstrate why these questions have a new political relevance for understanding today's increasingly global world. Drawing on theories of collective memory and cultural trauma, the book draws together a diverse range of studies of generational narratives across time and place. Students and researchers in sociology, cultural studies, and gender studies, will find this book a highly readable introduction to the importance of generational consciousness for understanding issues as wide-ranging as gender stratification, inter-generational relations, inequality, and the cultural and technological transformations of the post-Communist era.

Jackie Scott, faculty, Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge