It was only after World War Two that residents of the USA and indeed the developed world began to appreciate, they were living in a period of change so much more rapid and profound than at any previous time. Religion, mobility, fashion, music, nuclear weapons, the end of American Isolation, the widespread use of the contraceptive pill, generational “gaps” and recreational drugs are just some of the areas where change occurred. Interestingly many of these circumstances provoked change first in the minds and thoughts of individuals. The counterculture was characterized by the opening up of minds to experimentation with new ideas and practices in the context of what began as a period of insecurity i.e. the 1950s, which a decade later spawned a new optimism about the future. This presentation will trace counterculture development and evaluate the way literature, journalism, communications, music, the family, and other aspects of life reacted to the impetus for change in the 1960s.

Presenter Paul Groom was born in Liverpool, England in time to experience the 1960s and its explosion of cultural life. He gives historical presentations about the 1960s with a particular focus on The Beatles, The History of Rock & Roll and The 1960s Counterculture.

He remembers a world prior to the Beatles. Paul lived in the same “village” as John Lennon and George Harrison, went to the same high school as Paul McCartney and George Harrison, the same Sunday school as John Lennon, and lived similar experiences to the Beatles everyday lives.

He also accompanied the 1960s developments which became known as the “Counterculture” and witnessed the developments in Art, Music, Literature, Journalism and virtually every other facet of life as society adapted to the new realities of post-World War II life.

In more recent years his interest has been drawn to the “roots” of Rock & Roll where he has journeyed to the Mississippi Delta, listened, read and watched assiduously, in audio, print and film, discovering the wealth of American music that paved the way for Rock. He also watched, as a teenager, the British Invasion of the USA led by the Beatles bringing a new diversity to American music.

This program is co-sponsored by the Springfield Public Library and the Summit Free Public Library, and is funded, in part, by the Manley Winser Foundation.