1963: The Year of the Revolution: How Youth Changed the World with Music, Art, and Fashion Reprint Edition by Ariel Leve and , Robin Morgan ( Del Street Books)

1963 was a pivotal year for me growing up in Boston. Still, it would have been impossible for me, at that time, to foresee what the 60’s were to become. I’ve read good books about 1965 as well as 1968, but I’ve never given much thought to the influence of 1963. This book shows how the radical changes taking place in England in 1963 laid the groundwork for the youth rebellion here in the “States.” The Boomers and their rise to power as a cultural and economic force were shaped by what was happening on the music, fashion and art scenes in London.Ariel Leve and Robin Morgan's oral history 1963: The Year of the Revolution is the first book to recount the kinetic story of the twelve months that witnessed a demographic power shift—the rise of the Youth Quake movement, a cultural transformation through music, fashion, politics, and the arts. Leve and Morgan detail how, for the first time in history, youth became a commercial and cultural force with the power to command the attention of government and religion and shape society.

While the Cold War began to thaw, the race into space heated up, feminism and civil rights percolated in politics, and JFK’s assassination shocked the world, the Beatles and Bob Dylan would emerge as poster boys and the prophet of a revolution that changed the world.

1963: The Year of the Revolution records, documentary-style, the incredible roller-coaster ride of those twelve months, told through the recollections of some of the period’s most influential figures—from Keith Richards to Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon to Graham Nash, Alan Parker to Peter Frampton, Eric Clapton to Gay Talese, Stevie Nicks to Norma Kamali, and many more.

 I was expecting a more American focused presentation, but I was pleased with what I found