The Sixties

The Sixties,by Jenny Diski, published by Picador

By the time we got to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, it was proved conclusively that being young is a lot more fun than being middle-aged. So do we really need The Sixties, Jenny Diski's contribution to Picador's Big Ideas/Small Books series? Actually, we do.

Diski, who was born in London in 1947, is the author of eight novels, two travel memoirs, two collections of essays and one of short stories. Here she recalls (sometimes hilariously) her experience of the '60s, but her emphasis is on the culture's ideas - about drugs, sex, education, mental illness and, to a lesser extent, politics.

Very little of what she says is new, but she says it with intelligence, wit, an eye for detail and an extraordinary ability to laugh at her young self while respecting that self's hopes and efforts. She is completely unsentimental; no stardust for her.

She allows herself only the briefest paean to a perfect dress from Biba in Kensington Church Street and "a silver and black striped, Regency-cut trouser suit".

The New York Times Syndicate