To live in interesting times

[jtmx1]

Here is a random question for you: What is the most fascinating 25 year period of American history? I'm not necessarily looking for the most important period. Got an opinion?

(The edit was to change "interesting" to "important." That's what I meant to type but didn't.)

[Tyler]

From August 2008 to August 2033.

[Thanin]

I agree with Tyler. There has yet to be a fascinating period in american his-story.

[chris]

1850 to 1875, thereabouts.

[jtmx1]

My own vote would be 1945-1970.

[Guest Justin]

I like Chris's suggestion a lot, but I think I would increase it by at least a year to include the fight at the Greasy Grass in the summer of '76 (sounds like a Bryan Adams song). I also like Jeff's suggestion a lot, but I think I'd backtrack to, say, '39 to '64, so you get the German invasion of Poland, the Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan, and the Civil Rights Act. I'd say that both of those two periods, 1851-1876 and 1939-1964, are incredibly fascinating in the context of American History.

If I had to go with one or the other, though, I think I'd choose the 20th century, but only because I think WWII is a particularly gruesome era in human history, even in comparison to our Civil War and the events and policies leading up to it. I'm quite glad that WWII-type things don't happen all the time, but it makes for fascinating study. What is so interesting to me is that a great deal of the actual day-to-day evil (don't let the routine nature of it fool you--this is some of the worst stuff our species has ever accomplished against itself) done in the war was perpetrated by regular folks that ultimately had to go home to their everyday spouses and their average kids. The villains weren't just exaggerated lunatic caricatures of humans, folks like Hitler, Musilini, and Stalin (and Hirohito? and Churchill? and Roosevelt?), but also the run-of-the-mill folks who refused to refuse them. It was a time that seemed to thrive on turning otherwise ordinary people (misguided politicos in Russia, working class joes in Germany, bored Japanese grunts in China, bureaucrats and scientists in the States) into mass-murderers with body counts ranging up to seven digits. What is saddest of all is that we as ordinary people ourselves should theoretically be able to identify with their missteps. Eeek!

[Jeff]

I thought of that Justin, going back to '39. Ultimately I went with the late '60s as more interesting than the prewar or even the war itself. Maybe a bad call.