THURSDAY

Boomers—can’t live with ’em, can’t wait until they finally shuffle off this mortal coil. At least that’s the common view held by Gen-Xers and -Yers forced to endure the Boomers’ smug, “We did everything cool first and our cool is cooler than your cool. And oh, yeah, we’re still cool, and we refuse to grow up, even though we’re your parents.” And who can blame them? If someone other than a Boomer was in charge, would the last two Super Bowls have featured Sir Mick Jagger and Sir Paul McCartney? Of course, every generation comes to despise the previous one. As Boomer god John Lennon presciently observed, “Our children will hate us, too, you know.” Taking scorn from snotty-slacker offspring is one thing, but having their own parents wear the Greatest Generation crown is too much for some Boomers. Leading the countercharge to Tom Brokaw’s bestseller is AU professor and devout Boomer Leonard Steinhorn, whose The Greater Generation argues that despite surviving the Depression and defeating fascism, his father’s cohort were blind to racism, sexism, homophobia, and the environment degradation—all problems happily addressed by energetic Boomers, baby! Perhaps, but Steinhorn does his case no good by starting each chapter with the most clichéd song lyrics from classic-rock staples. We’re talkin’ “Nowhere Man,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” “Teach Your Children,” and “For What It’s Worth,” among others. Now that’s embarrassing. Help the professor work out his daddy issues when he speaks at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919 (Dave Nuttycombe)