1969

The Year Everything Changed

By: Rob Kirkpatrick

Narrated by: Jonah Cummings

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Woodstock, the moon landing, Charles Manson, Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and more. A must-have for baby boomers and the generations that came after!

• Woodstock and Altamont.
• Charles Manson and the Zodiac Killer.
• The televised moon landing.
• Ted Kennedy’s address after Chappaquiddick.
• The Amazin’ Mets and Broadway Joe’s Jets.
• The Stonewall Riots and the Days of Rage.
• The first punk and metal albums hit the airwaves.
• Swinger culture became chic.
• The Santa Barbara oil slick and Cuyahoga River fire.
• The My Lai massacre inspired impassioned debate on the Vietnam War.
• Richard Nixon spoke of “The Silent Majority” while John and Yoko urged us to “Give Peace a Chance”.
• And more!

In this rich and comprehensive narrative, Rob Kirkpatrick chronicles an unparalleled year in American society in all its explosive ups and downs.

©2011 Rob Kirkpatrick (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What a year!!

The year that changed everything indeed! I remembered many of the highlights of the year since I was 20 years old, but not the significance of what would have been somewhat minor things to me at the time. There were so many "firsts" in sports, music and culture.
I am a NY Mets fan but the game by game information leading up to the World Series was tedious. Unless you are a historical statistics freak, fast forward through that section.

It’s all right, A little long-winded

While I enjoyed for the most part this audible book for capturing the spirit and essence of the year 1969, there were times it got a bit long-winded. Explaining scene by scene the plot lines of all the major movies of that year wasn’t necessary. I found it odd that in the beginning of the book, the protest moment was described as just a bunch of troublemakers with no legitimate agenda. Yet at the end of the book, I was very impressed by the point by point description of the Manson murders, Altamonte, the Chicago seven and the reasons for the downfall of the black panther party. I did find it fascinating the parallels between that year and what America is going through right now, specifically our societies toxic divisions in both eras. Many didn’t learn a damn thing from history And we’re making the same mistakes all over again like a vicious cycle.

Disappointing Narration

I am extremely disappointed in the narration of this audio book. Jonah Cummings mispronounces too many words and too many names. His attempts to “give voice” to various quotes is annoying at best. It’s as if he is reading the text cold and without a director. The content is well crafted, and it deserves a better narrator.

Excellent look back at a fascinating year

This book provided an amazing look at the year 1969 and a well organized fashion that discuss topics across the cultural spectrum. He provided insight and the background on many of the events that we know happened but maybe don’t know why. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of America in perhaps it’s most tumultuous time. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone interested in the history of America.

It was ALL good!

From narration to content to presention this book had it all. If you lived through 1969 this is an unbiased look at that microcosm of time. It will bring up memories of a much more civilized time (in some ways, in others not so much) I can't say enough positive about it. If you didn't live through it then this is the perfect way to learn about a time that will be taught a hundred years from now.

Informative but overly graphic at times

The book does an excellent job of providing context and information about the 60s especially 1969. But I felt that it was dwelling on the graphic portions a little too long for my attention span. But overall a very good book.

Too Much Baseball

Too much of the book’s time is taken up with play by play accounts of baseball games. I understand the author’s love of the game, but found myself bored with specific accounts of several games.

Great listen

I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was a great overview of the year 69 well written in excellent narration. Just enough to pick your interest and have you look up things on the Internet that you may not have known about. I particularly like how it went sequentially through the year. I enjoyed this book very much.

I loved this book so much!

This book was so riveting that I blazed through it several times faster than expected, finding excuses to keep listening. So good, so interesting and so well read!

Riveting trip down memory lane

This is a riveting and rollicking brilliantly written trip down memory lane. I had forgotten how momentous 1969 was in American history. The narration is superb.