A book by
Douglas Coupland. First published in 1991.
The book that has done the most to define a sub-culture of young adults in America (and increasingly across the whole world) which, before this book, had no name and no identity. They are described as
"Underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable".
Generation X was the comedown after the affluent yuppie high of the 1980s. It has grown up with recession, Star Wars and the birth of the Internet. It is the dropout generation. It is us.
"I felt like I was being excommunicated from the shin jin rui - that's what the Japanese newspapers call people like those kids in their twenties at the office - new human beings. It's hard to explain. We have the same group over here and it's just as large, but it doesn't have a name - an X generation - purposefully hiding itself."
Chapters:
- THE SUN IS YOUR ENEMY
- OUR PARENTS HAD MORE
- QUIT RECYCLING THE PAST
- I AM NOT A TARGET MARKET
- QUIT YOUR JOB
- DEAD AT 30 BURIED AT 70
- IT CAN'T LAST
- SHOPPING IS NOT CREATING
- RE CON STRUCT
- ENTER HYPERSPACE
- DECEMBER 31, 1999
- NEW ZEALAND GETS NUKED, TOO
- MONSTERS EXIST
- DON'T EAT YOURSELF
- EAT YOUR PARENTS
- PURCHASED EXPERIENCES DON'T COUNT
- REMEMBER EARTH CLEARLY
- CHANGE COLOUR
- WHY AM I POOR?
- CELEBRITIES DIE
- I AM NOT JEALOUS
- LEAVE YOUR BODY
- GROW FLOWERS
- DEFINE NORMAL
- MTV NOT BULLETS
- TRANS FORM
- WELCOME HOME FROM VIETNAM, SON
- ADVENTURE WITHOUT RISK IS DISNEYLAND
- PLASTICS NEVER DISINTEGRATE
- AWAIT LIGHTNING
- JAN. 01, 2000
Some terms are defined in Generation X in little footnotes at the bottom of appropriate pages.
Generation X Definitions contains a list of these.