Jennifer:
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| Photo courtesy of designofsignage.com |
Mark Kurlansky’s introduction, The Year That Rocked the World, caught my attention in three short pages. It refers to a year that in some ways is not actually that long ago, a mere 42 years ago. After all, my father was already 35 at the time. Is that really that long ago? Eh, no, it’s not compared to other events we read about on a daily basis. However, Kurlansky makes it a point to show us how very different of a time that was indeed.
Kurlansky describes the “shocked” response of people at their initial realization of how small the world actually is. He makes us aware of the fact that this shocking realization could never happen again. It was brought about through the new invention of the television which gave people immediate information and, in doing so, changed what impressed, thrilled, and satisfied them.
The last sentence of his introduction encompasses a great amount of what Kurlansky is trying to say and leaves us open to his thoughts as we continue into the start of the book. What seemed to have the greatest impact on me were the following words: “and that since then, too many truths have been buried.” Kurlansky suggests that our society today, very different from the one he speaks of in 1968, thinks to themselves, if they think at all. By this, is he suggesting we are more oppressed than we were 42 years ago? Has society made us stop thinking?
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