Whether you are participating in our Decades Reading Challenge or found this list while researching books about the 60s and 70s – you’ve come to the right place! Below, you’ll find a list of the best books set in the 1960s, and we also have a comprehensive list of 1970s titles.
Our recommended reading list of books set in the Sixties includes historical fiction novels that examine social and racial issues and books that capture the flair of the Swinging 60s. The list also includes memoirs and nonfiction books about the 1960s that provide insights into the era. And finally, we’ve added some of the best books of the 1960s that were written during that decade.
Literary Themes in Books About the Swinging Sixties
The Sixties was a decade dominated by the Vietnam War and a strong anti-war sentiment among young people against the US involvement in the War. Civil Rights marches also defined the era and helped bring about positive changes, including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
In the early 1960s, many Americans lived in fear of nuclear war as the Cold War escalated. Throughout the decade, the country mourned the losses of beloved leaders, including President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The 60s came to a close with a giant leap for mankind as the first astronauts stepped foot on the moon.
For additional historical context, check out the timeline of major world events included at the end of the post.
Frances “Frankie” McGrath is a 21-year-old nursing student who has been raised by her conservative parents to always do “the right thing.” But when her brother ships out for Vietnam in 1965, she begins to change her views of right and wrong. Frankie impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows her brother to Vietnam. As she tends to the green and inexperienced young men who have been sent to fight the war, she is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction. Returning home to a changed America doesn’t prove to be any easier.
While The Women is the story of Frankie going to war, it also shines a light on the story of all women who risk everything to help others. The publisher describes this book as “a novel of searing insight and lyrical beauty” that is “profoundly emotional” and “richly drawn.”
Through the story of Frankie’s family, we see the devastation of those who lost their sons, brothers, and other loved ones in Vietnam. But we also get a glimpse of what it was like on the ground in a war that was very complicated and blurred lines. We see how the country treated these soldiers and nurses differently, even though they were doing their sworn duty for the country, just like those before them.
The Book Girls Say…
There are so many books shedding light on the stories of women during WWI and WWII, but ever since we launched the Decades Reading Challenge back in 2020, we’ve been lamenting the lack of fiction about women’s roles in Vietnam. We couldn’t have asked for a better writer to take up this topic than Kristin Hannah!
While we expected great things from The Women after Kristin Hannah’s other highly-rated historical fiction, she still managed to exceed our expectations. Like her other recent works, The Women humanizes a tragedy that we all need to know about – both to honor those who experienced it and to help prevent history from recurring.
Following two weeks in the life of 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis as he struggles with right and wrong. His world is made up of just two groups – the “socs, ” a violent gang of rich kids who have money and can get away with anything, and the greasers, like Ponyboy, who live on the outside and need to watch their backs. Ponyboy is a proud greaser, until the night that his friend makes a terrible decision and he begins to question everything.
The Book Girls Say…
This coming-of-age novel is one of the most popular teenage books from the 60’s. It’s now regarded as not only an influential piece of literature in the 1960s, but also as one of the novels that laid the groundwork for the YA genre.
There is also a new Broadway musical version of The Outsiders which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. If you don’t have plans to be in NYC anytime soon, then keep an eye out for this musical when it begins touring in the fall of 2025.
Margo had her life planned out as debutant turned wife in 1961. But when her engagement is broken off, and her family endures a scandal, her future changes dramatically.
Instead of becoming a posh housewife, she becomes an assistant to photographer Slim Aarons, who is known for vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars. Margo is thrust into a jet-setting life from Acapulco to Manhattan and interacts with the biggest names of the decade, like Jackie Kennedy, Truman Capote and his Swans, and a host of Vanderbilts.
When Margo and Slim arrive in Palm Beach, she is swept up into the city’s social circle and befriends heiress and rising designer Lilly Pulitzer. But soon, her loyalties will be tested, and secrets may be revealed.
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Though the cover might have summer romance vibes, readers say this book fits squarely in the historical fiction genre.
Be sure to look up more information about the real people featured in this novel, including photographer Slim Aarons and iconic fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer. Their work perfectly captures the feeling of summer!
This book is a perfect pick if you’ve enjoyed the social climbing drama of 1960s Palm Beach in the AppleTV series, Palm Royale.
When young, angry, and pregnant Sara must flee Chicago, she boards a bus to still-segregated Memphis. When she arrives, she is welcomed by Mama Sugar, the matriarch of The Scarlet Poplar boardinghouse.
In Memphis, Sara learns about the push for civil rights spreading across the country. She loves discussing education, politics, and the hope for a brighter future with her new friend, Jonas. He is a schoolteacher, and soon their friendship begins blooming into something more.
However, secrets from Mama Sugar’s past unexpectedly catch Sara and Jonas in the crosshairs. Sara must again make impossible decisions.
The Book Girls Say…
Reviewers praise the poignant language and author’s writing, but warn that this story of generational trauma will break your heart.
This might just be the perfect historical fiction beach read for the summer – a family drama that brings the 60s to life in vivid, nostalgic detail.
Each year, the children of the Levin family have looked forward to spending their summer in Nantucket with their grandmother. But in the summer of ’69, thirteen-year-old Jessie is the only sibling who can make the trip. One of her older sisters is pregnant with twins, the other is caught up in the civil rights movement, and her older brother has recently been deployed to the war in Vietnam.
The summer proves to be an eventful one – Vietnam, Woodstock, the moon landing, the Chappaquiddick affair, Jessie struggling with her first heartbreak, and her grandmother with a few secrets of her own.
The Book Girls Say…
If you enjoy Hilderbrand’s Summer of ’69, then you’ll also want to grab the novella-length sequels, Summer of ’79 is available on Kindle or as an Audible audiobook. There’s also another short story follow-up called Summer of ’89, which is available in the recently published story collection titled Endless Summer.
Elizabeth Zott is a quirky andbrilliant female chemist working with an all-male team at the Hastings Research Institute. But her scientific qualifications don’t stop the “good old boys” from being frustrated that she won’t get coffee or make copies for them. When Elizabeth meets Calvin Evans, another scientist at the Institute, another type of chemistry results.
Fast forward a few years. It’s 1961, and Elizabeth is a 30-year-old single mother and her career has been detoured. Instead of working for Hastings, she’s now (somewhat reluctantly) the star of a much-loved cooking show called Supper at Six. Her cooking methods are unusual (“combine one tablespoon of acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”). As her popularity grows, it turns out she’s not just teaching women to cook, she’s also daring them to change the status quo.
The Book Girls Say…
This novel is funny, but not in a laugh-out-loud sort of way – more in a sometimes you have to laugh so you don’t cry sort of way. And while there is an element of romance in the book, we wouldn’t classify it as romance or rom com.
The descriptions of the misogyny that Elizabeth faces (and specifically some of the language that is directed at her) offends some readers, but it’s an accurate representation of what she and so many women faced in the 1950s and 1960s. By no means is our struggle for equality over, but this book gave us so much respect for the women who paved the way.
Heads Up: Although the overall vibe of this book is a cheerful one, you should be aware that this book does also address serious topics, with scenes depicting sexual assault, domestic violence, and suicide.
In 1962, the world was teetering on the brink of nuclear war. But even with the Cuban Missile Crisis dominating headlines, life goes on for Celia Duchesne. Though she longs for a career, she spends her days working the register at a London bookshop. When a handsome American enters the shop one day, she finds herself suddenly drawn into a budding romance that might just be her path to a new life.
But when Celia learns a devastating secret, she’s instead pulled into the murky world of espionage. She begins to learn the story of Anya, a young women during the French resistance of WWII who transmitted messages to London from behind enemy lines.
This discovery comes just as her romance is taking an unexpected turn and the world superpowers are on the verge of nuclear annihilation. Celia will have to risk everything in the name of justice.
The Book Girls Say…
For another look at the time frame of the Cuban Missile Crisis, pick up Chanel Cleeton’s When We Left Cuba. This novel is listed as the second in the Perez Family Series, but readers say it works well as a stand-alone.
After her mother passes away, 14-year-old Lily Owens runs away with her friend and nanny, Rosaleen. The two escape to Tiburon, South Carolina, where an eccentric trio of Black beekeeping sisters takes them in.
Lily is introduced to the world of bees and honey, the Black Madonna, and the town that holds the secret to her mother’s past.
This coming-of-age story is about three different 18-year-old men growing up in 3 different time periods.
William was 18 in 1967 when he went to Vietnam as a Marine. Vincent is 18 in 1979 when he meets William, working on a construction crew, and hears William’s stories of his war-time experience.
The third young man is Vincent’s son, Beau, who has had an easier life than the first two men. He was 18 in 2015 when Vincent received William’s old Vietnam journal in the mail as a thank you for listening to his stories years ago. It was written while he was a Marine and facing things that no one, much less a teenager, should have to encounter.
The three stories are woven together in a beautiful way that many are calling a must-read for everyone, despite the grim nature of William’s combat experiences.
The Book Girls Say…
Although this book is set in three time periods, the story is ultimately a historical fiction of Vietnam, making it a great pick for a book about the 1960s. Make sure you don’t miss the author’s note at the end of the book to learn more about Dugoni’s connection to the story.
Living in a beautiful home with a white picket fence in North Carolina, teenager Lorraine seems to have the perfect life. She has a wonderful boyfriend, but she has big ambitions and dreams of more for her life.
When Lorraine ends up pregnant, her family sends her away to a maternity home in order to shield themselves from the “shame.” But what is supposed to be a secluded safe haven is instead a house of dark secrets and suffocating rules.
As Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her future, she has to decide if she can fight against those who plan to take her child away or whether to bend to the rules of society.
Newlywed Ruth is a law school graduate and has an independent streak stronger than most young women in her posh neighborhood. However, she still wants to impress her mother-in-law, who has signed Ruth up for etiquette lessons with Lillian Diamond.
Fellow etiquette classmate Carrie is quiet but has a dark secret. When witty Ruth befriends Carrie, they form an unbreakable bond. Ruth pushes Lillian and all of her Diamond Girls to question the status quo and stretch beyond their comfort zones as they unite to protect one of their own.
The summer of 1961 started out full of hope and innocence in New Bremen, Minnesota – a new young president, the Twins baseball team playing their debut season, root beers at the soda counter, and comic books on the barbershop magazine racks. But the summer soon turned grim, with multiple deaths. Accident? Natural? Suicide? Murder?
When the tragedies occur in town, 13-year-old Frank Drum is thrust into adulthood overnight. The novel is part mystery and part coming-of-age story, told by Frank himself as a 40-year-old adult looking back on that fateful summer.
The Book Girls Say…
If you’ve already read and enjoyed Ordinary Grace, consider Lightning Strike by William Kent Krueger. It’s the prequel to his popular Cork O’Connor mystery series and tells the story of the title character growing up in the 1960s.
This book is NOT what you’d expect from Stephen King. Instead of horror, you’ll find suspenseful historical fiction crossed with science fiction (and even a twist of romance) that addresses the most compelling aspect of time travel. How do actions taken in the past affect the same future you started in?
English teacher Jake Epping is recruited by his friend Al, the local diner owner, to help with the most unlikely of requests. Al discovered a portal in the diner’s storeroom that transports him back in time to the era of Ike and Elvis. He becomes obsessed with using the portal to go back in time and stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But when he realizes he won’t be able to complete the mission, he enlists Jake for the job. Jake reluctantly agrees to go back to 1958 and live the early years of the 1960s in the small town of Jodie, Texas while devising a plan to stop JFK from dying on 11/22/63.
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This book is a giant at more than 800 pages, but we promise you’ll thank us for this recommendation. The audiobook is fantastic and it makes a great summer road trip listen!
We haven’t watched the mini-series yet, but we weren’t surprised to hear that (as is always the case) – the book is better!
Another historical fiction novel featuring the Kennedy assissination is November Road by Lou Berney, which is part crimer thriller and part love story.
In 1964, a racial divide cuts through the town of High Cotton, Texas, just as plainly as the train tracks, but cultural shifts are on the horizon. And the friendship between two girls, one local and one new to town, is about to escalate the tension.
Corky is 13-years-old, right on the cusp between childhood and adolescence. Her family just hired a new housekeeper from Haiti, and Corky is quick to befriend her daughter, America. Corky has been reading a new “grown-up” novel called To Kill a Mockingbird, and she’s eager to share it with America. But America’s take on the book is very different from Corky’s… and much more personal.
As the summer goes on, Corky learns that America can run as fast as Olympian Wilma Rudolph, and she invites America to play on her church softball team. It seems like fun and games, but the invitation crosses the color lines and sparks a firestorm in High Cotton. It will be a season of big changes for the town with lifelong impacts on the girls.
The Book Girls Say…
We’ve been enthusiastically recommending Lynda Rutledge’s West With Giraffes to anyone who would listen for the past few years. However, this new Rutledge title didn’t quite hit the mark for Melissa. However, based on the ratings, she may be in the minority.
Keep in mind that while this novel is not classified as YA, it does read more like a YA coming-of-age story and as such, doesn’t go as deep into some of the challenging issues.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
John “Chick” Donohue & J.T. Molloy
Publication Date:
05/02/2017
Setting:
1967, Vietnam
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In this memoir, Chick Donohue, a Vietnam vet, recounts the craziest of his many adventures. It all began on a night in 1967 when 26-year-old Chick was at a bar in NYC with his buddies. Each of them had lost loved ones in Vietnam, and they were disheartened to see anti-war protesters turning on the troops.
One of the guys came up with a crazy idea – someone should sneak into Vietnam and track down their buddies still serving there to bring them messages of support, and – of course – a beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever.
It’s likely none of them meant for the idea to be taken seriously, but nonetheless, Chick volunteered. A day later he was on a cargo ship headed back to Vietnam during the height of combat with a backpack full of alcohol.
What would follow was his own personal Odyssey – a serviceman turned civilian searching for his childhood friends in Vietnam. Chick’s story is filled with lots of hilarious escapades and harrowing close calls – including the Tet Offensive.
This memoir has been described as a “hilarious quest laced with sorrow, but never dull.”
The Book Girls Say…
This improbable but true story has been turned into an Apple TV+ war film starring Zac Efron, as Chick, Russell Crowe, and Bill Murray. It’s was released in September of 2022.
Marilyn wasn’t just caught making out with the rabbi’s son—she was caught by the whole congregation! In hopes of saving their daughter’s reputation, her parents sent her to her great-aunt Ada for the summer. They gave her an ultimatum: spend the summer with Ada, Philadelphia’s strict premier matchmaker, or kiss her college plans goodbye.
Based on her mother’s description, Marilyn expects Ada to be a humorless septuagenarian. Instead, Ada is sharp and straight-talking, with platinum blonde hair, a Hermès scarf, and a Cadillac convertible. As the summer goes on, Ada and Marilyn set off for the Jersey Shore, where Marilyn helps to scope out eligible matches for anyone but herself. She’s learning a lot from Ada—but not exactly what her parents were hoping for. Marilyn realizes that she doesn’t have to settle, even as her father threatens to disinherit her.
The Book Girls Say…
We love summertime historical fiction, so we’re so excited to read this title that comes highly recommended by our readers – so highly, in fact, that our readers recently voted it one of the all-time best beach reads.
Skeeter has returned home from college to her family’s cotton plantation where – despite trying to act like a proper Southern lady – she seems to constantly disappoint her mother.
Her true ambition, however, is to be a writer. The only job she’s able to find is one she is completely unqualified for – writing a housekeeping advice column for the local paper. Having virtually no experience of her own with housekeeping, Skeeter turns to her friend’s maid, the very poised Aibileen, for help.
As she gets to know Aibileen and Aibileen’s friend, the very sassy Minny, more intimately, Skeeter is inspired to help tell their stories, and she pitches the idea to write the narratives of 12 Black maids – a very risky project for all of them.
The Book Girls Say…
This is one of Angela’s favorite books of all time! It’s full of characters that are easy to love (and others not so much), and by the end you’ll be so invested in their stories that you won’t want the book to end!
The good news is that, when you do reach the final page, you can watch the movie to enjoy these women all over again.
In August of 1961, barbed wire was placed across Berlin in the middle of the night. Families were torn apart against their wishes by the new 30-mile wall. This historical fiction imagines the lives of twin sisters separated on that fateful night.
Karin is in East Berlin when the wall goes up, separating her from her twin, Jutta. They live parallel lives for years, with Karin surviving the brutal East German regime only with Otto’s help. One day, Jutta finds a hidden way to reach Karin, but the Stasi are watching. Should Jutta flee back home with her sister or follow her heart?
The Book Girls Say…
As children of the 1980s, we always associate the Berlin Wall with the decade when it came down. It was eye-opening for us to read about the wall going up in the early 1960s and what it was like for the families separated all those years.
It’s the 1960s, and Elwood has been raised by his loving but strict grandmother. His hard work and focus on always doing the right thing are about to pay off.
Elwood is getting ready to enroll in the local black college and has big dreams. Everything changes when an innocent mistake causes him to be sent to The Nickel Academy to be “reformed” from his so-called crimes.
While the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys is fiction, it’s based on real “schools” and the unspeakable treatment of young Black men who were sent there during the 1960s. Elwood does his best to remain optimistic, but his positive attitude is challenged by his new friend Turner, who has experienced a different world growing up.
The Book Girls Say…
This book will make you feel every emotion. Through Colson Whitehead’s writing, you really get to know and feel for the characters and the situation they are thrown into. Regretfully, racial inequality in America is embarrassingly still a relevant topic today. This is not an easy book to read, but books like this are very important to adding perspective to the ongoing pushes for equality.
Colson Whitehead is also the author of Harlem Shuffle, a novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.
This is the memoir of Jackie Kennedy’s personal secret service agent who was with her throughout her years as First Lady. In this intimate portrait, Clint Hill recalls being by Jackie’s side for some of her happiest moments, as well as the darkest.
He traveled the world with her, shared in intimate family moments in and out of the White House, and was with her in Dallas on 11/22/63 when he jumped onto the back of the President’s car to shield Mrs. Kennedy in the moments after her husband’s assassination – a tragic day that he recounts moment by moment in this book.
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Clint Hill has written other memoirs about his time as a secret service agent, including the 2016 Five Presidents, in which he reflects on his seventeen years on the White House detail under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, shedding light on their personalities and giving a unique insider perspective on many historical events of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. His newest memoir, My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy, tells more stories about his years traveling the globe with the First Lady.
Both of Clint Hill’s memoirs are vivid and insightful without feeling gossipy, and he provides an in-depth look at the politics of the day without feeling political.
Growing up in Harlem, Benny’s father had ties to the mob. Benny learned that love and family can get you into trouble, so he decided to make music his entire life. But rather than seeking the spotlight, Benny writes songs for other musicians.
That is, until Benny meets Esther – a petite but powerful singer. He writes a song for her, but when they end up performing it together, he’s suddenly thrust into the national spotlight. Not only do music fans take notice – it also gains the attention of the mob.
In addition to the storyline set in 1960, we read portions of an interview that Benny gave to radio show personality Barry Gray in 1969. But what happened in between? The answer—like the decade—involves politics, racism, and lots of amazing music.
The Book Girls Say…
Readers say this book is best described as a very well-researched and fairly clean historical romance that captures the essence of the 1960s. However, because of the mob element, there are a few scenes of graphic violence.
Set during Thanksgiving week of 1962, this novel tells the story of a family torn apart by secrets.
Macey was just nine years old when her mom put her on a bus to her grandma’s farm and told her to wait at the station to be picked up.
Her grandma is keeping secrets from her mama. Her mom keeps secrets from her. And her father is so lost in the memories of the Korean War that he even keeps secrets from himself.
Now Macey has a terrible secret of her own. Is this a secret she is meant to keep, or one she should tell?
Starla is only 9 years old when she makes a series of decisions that change her life overnight. It’s 1963, and she lives with her strict grandmother in Mississippi. Despite being grounded, Starla sneaks out to see the annual 4th of July parade. When she’s caught, she believes her grandmother’s threats of reform school and sneaks out again with the intention of finding her mom all the way in Nashville.
Starla is offered a ride from a black woman, Eula, traveling with a white baby, quite the controversial scene in the 1963 South. Their journey is full of adventures, sometimes dangerous, and long chats that help Starla redefine family and understand more about the world she lives in.
The Book Girls Say…
This book is described by many as The Secret Life of Bees meets The Help meets To Kill a Mockingbird.
If you are interested in reading more about this period of Southern history through the eyes of a child protagonist, consider adding Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon to your TBR list. Like Whistling Past the Graveyard, Boy’s Life is also set in 1960s, but this time in Alabama. This novel similarly examines racial prejudice and segregation, but it also includes elements of magical realism.
Heads Up: This book does include some domestic violence.
In this coming-of-age novel, thirteen-year-old Jack Elliot wants to find a way to keep his oldest brother, Pete, from being drafted and sent to Vietnam. He overhears the men at the local barbershop complaining that famous boys don’t go to war, so he decides the best way to protect his brother is to make him the biggest celebrity in their small town.
Jack and his cousin Frankie convince Jack’s brothers to hunt for a missing fighter jet that crashed in their neck of the woods a few winters back. If they find it, Pete will be a hero. But their summer plans become more complicated thanks to a beautiful girl, a greedy developer, and a wild motorcycle gang.
Fifty-something Imogen Fortier is a magazine columnist living on Camano Island outside of Seattle. When she receives a fan letter containing a gift of saffron, from 27-year-old Joan Bergstrom in LA, she writes back. Thus begins an unlikely friendship between these two women.
As the years pass, their letters to one another help them through the ups and downs of the world – the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy – as well as the unexpected twists and turns in their own lives. From world events to romantic relationships, through their letters, they discover that food and a good life can’t be separated. Can anything shake the trust they’ve built over their years of correspondence?
This book is fully written in epistolary style, so you’ll be reading the letters back and forth between the women. The author kept the book on the shorter side, hoping it could be enjoyed in one sitting.
The Book Girls Say…
If you are looking for an easy read that will be a “brief respite from our chaotic world,” this epistolary novel of food and friendship might be your perfect 1960s read.
Melissa read this book on a family vacation when she was looking for something short and light. Love & Saffron exceeded her expectations! It was such a lovely story of friendship and the power of making a friend through writing first before ever meeting. As Melissa & Angela (the Book Girls) met through online communication, it was fun to be reminded that before computers, pen pals could become your dearest friends.
Don’t miss the author’s note at the end of the book, which shares details about the real-life women who inspired the story.
In 2010, architect Kayla Carter’s husband dies tragically while working on the construction of the family’s dream home in the quiet town of Round Hill, North Carolina. Kayla tries to stay strong for her young daughter, but she knows that the new house will always hold upsetting memories. A mysterious older woman shows up at Kayla’s office who seems to know too much about the family and warns Kayla not to move into the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates. The property is rumored to be haunted, but the true history of the land may hide even darker secrets.
In the 1965 timeline, the author takes us back to Round Hill during a very turbulent time in American history. College student Ellie Hockley was raised to be a proper Southern lady, but she envisions a different future than the one that’s expected of her. She plans to spend her summer break helping to register black voters. As she aids the fight for civil rights, she’ll discover the frightening true nature of her neighbor’s prejudices.
When these two women’s stories ultimately come together, the truth will finally be revealed.
The Book Girls Say…
This book weaves together history, suspense, and social justice. Reviewers call the book enthralling, but it will also likely make you feel anger and heartache because Chamberlain does not shy away from digging deep into tough topics.
Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Win the 1960 Election
Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick
Publication Date:
01/12/2021
Setting:
1960, Atlanta, Georgia
Book Summary
Eight years before Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in Memphis, he was arrested in Atlanta during a peaceful sit-in at Rich’s Department Store. This happened less than three weeks before the 1960 Presidential election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, creating the ultimate October Surprise for the election.
Each candidate had to decide whether they wanted to address the arrest and, if so, how to respond. Kennedy’s campaign included a Civil Rights Section (CRS), and the CRS advocated for action by Kennedy. The CRS was led by pioneering Black journalist Louis Martin, future Pennsylvania senator Harris Wofford, and Sargent Shriver, the founder of the Peace Corps. Over the course of nine days, they worked both with Kennedy and behind his back to secure King’s release.
This compelling and well-researched non-fiction tells the story of the first time King spent a night in jail and how his bail refusal impacted an extremely close election.
When Alice Weiss leaves her home in Iowa to chase her dreams in NYC, she is lucky to land the job of a lifetime at Cosmopolitan magazine, which is under the new leadership of its first female editor, Helen Gurley Brown.
Not everyone is happy to see Helen at the helm of the magazine, with some editors and writers resigning and others cooking up a scheme to sabotage their new boss. Alice, on the other hand, remains loyal and is determined to help her new boss succeed as she shocks America by daring to talk to women about all things off-limits.
The Book Girls Say…
We both loved stepping right into 1965 Manhattan as Alice adjusted from her Midwestern roots and learned how magazines are run. This novel is often described as Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada, but it’s a huge bonus that the book was based on the real Cosmopolitan magazine and its first female editor, Helen Gurley Brown.
When his mother dies of cancer, orphaned 11-year-old Fin is reunited with his eccentric 24-year-old half-sister, who he hasn’t seen in six years. Now his legal guardian, Lady relocates Fin from his dairy farm in Connecticut to her home in the middle of Greenwich Village during the Swinging Sixties. Lady is far from a conventional parent, and Fin finds that she is as much his responsibility as he is hers.
Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War, Fin’s upbringing with Lady in Greenwich Village is the polar opposite of his former life. Lady enrolls Fin in an alternative school, takes him along to political rallies and marches, and doesn’t let her new parental role slow down her free-wheeling lifestyle. When Lady asks Fin to help her find a husband by her 25th birthday, Fin takes very seriously his role in protecting his sister from her potential suitors, and from herself.
The Book Girls Say…
Critics say this book doesn’t have enough of a plot, but Angela really enjoyed it as a character study of both Fin and Lady, as well as a portrait of the era. Those who love NYC will enjoy stepping back in time into the whirlwind of Greenwich Village in 1960s. This lighter read is a short 277 pages.
This book tells the fascinating, true story of the wives behind the men of the 1960s space program. NASA viewed the families of their astronauts as their business – selecting only men with seemingly perfect family lives, and giving the wives strict orders to create homes that wouldn’t produce any undue stress or “mental chores” for the men.
Rocketed to celebrity (see what we did there?) by their husbands’ selection as the original Mercury 7 astronauts, these women were featured on the cover of Life magazine. Under a deal with NASA, each wife was assigned a reporter who was embedded into her daily life – following her everywhere and placing her in a fishbowl even at the tensest of moments as she awaited word of her husband’s fate on each mission. Only able to confide in one another, the “astrowives” formed a tight-knit community in Houston.
The Book Girls Say…
This book gets mixed reviews, and most complaints seem to come down to the fact that it’s written more like a work of feature journalism. But this is a quick read and Angela found it fascinating. She couldn’t put this book down! If you enjoyed the style of historical non-fiction books like Hidden Figures, we think you’ll appreciate this book, too!
In an era when women were expected to become housewives, three best friends instead struggled to make their mark in NYC as they climbed their way to the top of the entertainment industry.
But once there, they discover there is no place to go but down – into the Valley of the Dolls.
The Book Girls Say…
Described by reviewers as compulsively addictive (like the booze and pills everyone in the book is taking) and highly entertaining, this classic, yet trashy, piece of chick lit is not for everyone!
Despite mixed reviews from our readers, we’ve kept this book on the list because it was one of the most popular books in the 1960s, becoming the number one best seller in 1966. In the nearly 60 years since, it’s become a cult classic that has endured, and it’s certainly piqued our interest to find out why!
You are welcome to choose any book that you’d like to read for the challenge, but we hope that this list of books has given you a good starting point.
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We compiled this list of major events of the time period to provide some historical context for your reading. We hope you enjoy learning a bit more about this period in history.
The US deployed 3,500 American soldiers to Vietnam in 1960. After many years of conflict, the US officially went to war in Vietnam when it sent combat troops to defend the American airbase at Da Nang in 1965. Opposition grew in the US, and anti-Vietnam sentiment became more prevalent throughout the decade.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy became the youngest person elected President of the United States; three years later, JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas, with his wife Jackie sitting by his side.
The development of “the Pill” in 1960 brings the topic of contraception “out of the bedroom and into the living room” as it becomes a common theme in magazine articles and books.
NASA launched its first astronaut into space for a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961, just weeks after the Soviet Union launched the first human into orbit. In the following year, NASA sent two more of its original Mercury 7 astronauts into space.
In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, at the height of the Cold War, a US-backed operation known as the Bay of Pigs invasion was unsuccessful in its attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961.
Beginning on August 13, 1961, the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) began constructing the Berlin Wall, which divided Germany – cutting off West Berlin from East Berlin – until 1989.
The world was on the brink of another World War in 1962 as the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated, and both the US and USSR came close to launching nuclear attacks.
The Beatles released their first single – “Love Me Do” – in the UK in 1962. When the Beatles first visited America two years later, in 1964, Beatlemania swept the nation and launched a music phenomenon known as “The British Invasion” that also included popular British bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Herman’s Hermits.
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the Civil Rights March on Washington; the renowned civil rights later was later assassinated in 1968.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin – was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The following year, LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act into law, ending discrimination at the polls.
The first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health declares smoking “hazardous to your health.” This contradicted years of tobacco industry advertisements regarding the benefits of smoking.
1967 is dubbed the “Summer of Love” when the “hippie movement” was in full swing in and around San Francisco, where thousands of young people flocked to Haight-Ashbury.
Senator Robert Kennedy, brother of JFK, was assassinated days after winning the California Presidential primary; Richard Nixon went on to win the US presidential election in 1968.
In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men on the Moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.
The three-day Woodstock music festival in 1969 featured acts such as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.
In one of the most baffling and horrifying criminal cases of the century, cult leader Charles Manson murdered several young women in the summer and fall of 1969.
The Book Girls are best friends who jointly read over 200 books per year. We started Book Girls' Guide in 2019 to help others de-stress and find joy through the power of a great book. We do in-depth research on thousands of novels and non-fiction titles each year to provide curated book lists covering a variety of genres.
2 Comments
The “Where the Crawdads Sing” has snatch another fan! I really enjoyed the book. Kya was a wonderful and colorful character. It was hard to put down. Thanks for turning me on to this book. Can’t wait to read the others you have suggested.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Stephanie! I just finished reading The Great Alone and if you haven’t read it, we both highly recommend it.
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The “Where the Crawdads Sing” has snatch another fan! I really enjoyed the book. Kya was a wonderful and colorful character. It was hard to put down. Thanks for turning me on to this book. Can’t wait to read the others you have suggested.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Stephanie! I just finished reading The Great Alone and if you haven’t read it, we both highly recommend it.