Making Sense Of The Sixties

One of the big event series on PBS this year, Making Sense of the Sixties takes on the considerable challenge of dissecting the most chameleon-like decade of American history in our century. By turns bombastic and enlightening, characterized by commitment to larger ideals and pure self-aggrandizement, the 60s were a period of tremendous internal contradictions within our country. We watched the opener of the series, "The Seeds of the Sixties," which did an excellent job of setting the stage for the tremendous social upheaval which was to follow. Combining interviews with people from many different walks of life with footage from the period, this program looks at the "baby boom" and, more importantly, the rigid society the baby boomers grew up in. The rules were simple: obey authority, control your emotions, fit in with the group, and don't even think about sex. If you were a boy you could look forward to a wide variety of jobs when you grew up. If you were a girl you could look forward to becoming a teacher, nurse, stewardess, or secretary. And if you were black and living in the South, your problems were multiplied a thousandfold. In the waning years of the 50s, however, distinct cracks began to appear in the American Dream: beatniks, Communist paranoia, violence in the streets in the South. Newsreel footage from the period doesn't lie--sometimes outrageous, sometimes funny, always interesting. Interviewees include Susan Allen Toth, Greil Marcus, and Robert Klein. Hats off to the producers, Varied Directions, a small independent company whose earlier efforts have been profiled in previous issues. An excellent job, highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Other episodes in the series are: We Can Change the World; Breaking Boundaries, Testing Limits; In a Dark Time; Picking Up the Pieces; and Legacies of the Sixties. (See FRONTLINE: THE MAN WHO MADE THE SUPER GUN for availability.)