This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection.
What’s the younger generation coming to?
This is a question that parents have been asking probably since the dawn of time. However it is especially interesting when looked at through the lens of the 1960s. The 60’s was such a time of discovery, change, and upheaval that the emergence of a strong voice for young people was almost a foregone conclusion. Reporters and photographers of United Press International and Cowles turned to kids in high school, college, and other popular hangouts in order to tune into this new voice in the volume Youth quake. Young people were asked about music, religion, sex, civil rights, politicians, money, books, and drinking to name just a few of the covered topics. Then they wrote a series of articles to report the findings of these conversations.
The book covers what you might expect detailing drug trips and the sex revolution, but it also focuses in on serious minded youths that were committed to making a better life for themselves as well as the world. One of the articles points out that the Peace Corps, which was established in the 1960s, is one of the greatest achievements of this “serious minded youth.” 
Another interesting section is a series of articles that fall under Conversations Parent’s Never Hear… These range from topics such as communication or lack thereof between father and son and one story of being a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war. However the book doesn’t take itself too seriously and details the fashion, activities, and popular trends of the day entitled The Out and the In.
To learn more about the opinions of young people in the 1960s take a look at Youth quake. [New York], [Cowles Education Corp.], [1968] HQ796.Y6 1968 which can be found in Widener’s collection.
Thanks to Alison Harris, Santo Domingo Project Manager, for contributing this post.