Sixty-Year Project: How the Last Six Decades Shaped Who We Are

Why do generations so often misunderstand each other? Why does division repeat itself, even as the world changes faster than ever? And what might happen if we stopped to listen instead of shout?

The Sixty-Year Project is a bold and reflective exploration of the last six decades of cultural, political, and social change. It asks readers to step back and see the bigger picture: how music, fashion, technology, politics, consumerism, and identity have shaped the way generations see themselves and each other.

Across 31 chapters, this book traces the roots of division and the forces that have widened it: the rise of consumer culture, the commodification of rebellion, the impact of technology, the power of media, the role of politics, and the way identity has become both personal and polarising. At the same time, it asks where connection can still be found, how dialogue might be rebuilt, and what each generation can teach the others if we stop defining ourselves by conflict.

What makes The Sixty-Year Project different is its voice. It is not written from the perspective of an academic or a journalist. It is written from lived experience. David Skelton grew up in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, witnessing first-hand how culture shifted around him. Today he is a transformation leader, coach, and mentor who has spent his career helping organisations navigate change. This mix of personal reflection and professional insight gives the book its unique tone: conversational, grounded, and relatable to readers from 16 to 70 and beyond.

Each chapter combines story, analysis, and reflection. Readers are invited to think about how smartphones reshaped attention, how consumerism turned rebellion into revenue, why social media fuels polarisation, how politics exploits division, and why parenting, education, and work feel so different today than they did decades ago. The book moves across themes as diverse as crime, feminism, identity, technology, convenience culture, religion, and belonging, but always returns to the central question: what has sixty years of change done to us, and how do we move forward together?

Accessible and thought-provoking, The Sixty-Year Project is designed to spark conversation. A 70-year-old will see why younger people feel the way they do. A teenager will understand why older generations think differently. Families, book clubs, and classrooms can use it to bridge the gaps that often keep us apart.

This is not a book that preaches or tells readers what to think. Instead, it opens a space for dialogue. It shows how the same patterns repeat, how division is often manufactured, and how connection is still possible if we choose to look for it.

For anyone who has ever asked why society feels so fractured, for anyone who wants to understand both the struggles and the strengths of different generations, and for anyone searching for common ground in a divided world, The Sixty-Year Project offers clarity, challenge, and hope.