'A 1960s Childhood' by Paul Feeney - Review

My rating: 8/10

Last year at Christmas my friend Evie bought me this book because she knows that I love music from the sixties and so she (very rightly) thought that I'd enjoy finding out more about the decade. Now that my exams have finally finished and I'm no longer prohibiting any book that won't help me revise, I have had the chance to start reading the book Evie bought me for Christmas six months ago.

Whilst I know a lot about music from the sixties, before reading this book I had very little knowledge about other aspects of culture and of life in general at the time. This book has informed me, in intricate detail, of every imaginable aspect of life in the sixties. It gives a vast range of examples behind every statement made, along with many facts and figures to provide yet more crucial detail, and has given me incredible amounts of knowledge of all of the most popular TV shows, games, music, toys, radio stations and more.

At first I didn't particularly like the narrative style because the first chapter was written in second person narrative. I thought that this was so that the book appealed directly to those who were alive in and remember the sixties, judging by the contents of the blurb in which the audience are directly addressed asking if they remember certain aspects of life in the sixties. For this reason I felt out of place with it, however this was short-lived as I started to read the second person narrative as a way of making me feel involved in the book and putting me in the shoes of someone who actually was alive in the sixties.

The book is written in a clear, organised and easily-followed structure, allowing you to expand your knowledge of specific aspects of life in the sixties. Moreover, every piece of information shows no sign of being bias towards a certain lifestyle or interest; it maintains a neutral, balanced recount of the decade, with the only personal input being the recurring sense of nostalgia which I'm sure many of the book's older readers can relate to.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and have unarguably learnt a lot about life in the 1960s from reading it. I would recommend it to anyone of an older age looking for a nostalgic trip back to the past, as well as to anyone else with an interest in British culture and how this as well as society as a whole has changed now from fifty years ago.