My Generation, by Justin E. H. Smith

Soon after I first posted this essay in a blog some 15 years ago, a young man approached me to ask if I minded him reposting it. I asked him where that would be. He and some others had launched a site called ‘Generation’. Its aim was to prepare for the coming war between the generations by assembling useful documents and providing a forum for discu... See more

The American Empire isn’t over. It’s just beginning. This will be the American Millennium as long as Americans believe that they can take matters into their own hands, build solutions to the challenges that we will inevitably face, and continuously rebuild a better America, and a better world.

For those growing into adulthood during most of the twentieth century, therefore, the backdrop to life was the loss of faith in coherent systems of thought and morality. Sophisticated people knew they were supposed to rebel against authority, reject old certainties, and liberate themselves from hidebound customs and prejudices. Artists rebelled aga... See more