One of my motivations for writing “Covered With Snow,” was to better understand what began to happen to our civilization in the 1960s—earthquakes which seem only to have compounded and accelerated and globalized since then.
Metastasized might be a better word. Metastasized is a better word.
I have a sequel in progress that follows one of CWS’s secondary characters through her childhood in the 1970s, and ‘80s and on into the present. Genre lines are blurry, but 50+ years in the past is the rough consensus for what constitutes historical fiction. Writing now within a “contemporary” frame (less than 50 years) has been easier in some ways, but also sometimes, less rewarding.
The research burden is less. I can more easily pluck from memory. But I miss the eye-popping folks need to know this discoveries. Which is why, when I stumbled over a fresh Biblical springboard idea for another ‘60s-era story, I plunged in. In the last month, I’ve lost track of how many biographies and histories of that era I’ve listened to at double speed or skimmed from libraries. And I thought I was already an expert. Ha!
The upshot: what was once common knowledge water-cooler conversations material, history often buries. For example, check this out from the August 8th, 1964 issue of “The Saturday Evening Post,” reflecting on the Beatles’ return to England, six months on from their infamous (Ed Sullivan show) “British invasion” landing in NYC.
It ends (as will I) with a quote from Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ press officer.
(My emphasis added):
Here are these four boys from Liverpool. They’re rude, they’re profane, they’re vulgar, and they’ve taken over the world. It’s as if they’d founded a new religion.
They’re completely anti-Christ. I mean, I’m anti-Christ as well, but they’re so anti-Christ they shock me, which isn’t an easy thing.
But I’m obsessed with them. Isn’t everybody? …
And the people who like them most are the people who should be outraged most. …each time we’d arrive at an airport, it was as if de Gaulle had landed, or better yet, the Messiah. … It was as if some savior had arrived. The only thing left for the Beatles is to go on a healing tour.