You Had to Be There

More than three and a half million Canadians are aged sixty-five and over. A generation that has lived through monumental and unparalleled change, they are Canadians who grew up in the Great Depression, helped win the Second World War, created the baby boom, and built the foundations of modem Canada. They managed to reach adulthood without television, credit cards and computers. They are better educated, more affluent, and longer-lived than any generation before them. And although they represent our country's last link to a remarkable, almost mythic time, rarely has there been as much misunderstanding and veiled animosity between the young and old as there is today.In You Had to Be There, Robert Collins interviews Canadians from across the country, who speak with humour, regret, and passion about their lives and about the widening gap between themselves and the rest of Canada. It examines the huge impact -- good and bad -- they have had on this country and on their children and grandchildren, many of whom see these older Canadians as enjoying Canada's prosperity while bleeding social benefits from deserving baby boomers and Generation X-ers. And, with humour and sympathy, he invites younger Canadians to re-examine and try to understand this truly extraordinary generation of Canadians.