JIGSAW GENS
Jigsaw Gens: The Complete Series
A full rundown of every American generation spanning the 1560s up through the present day — from youngest to oldest!
Between mid-2023 up through mid-2024, I’ve compiled an anthology series entitled “Jigsaw Gens” — looking at American history and cultural evolutions through the lenses of various generations.
After more than a year of research, I’ve identified 27 different generational cohorts unique to American society. While the birthyear ranges aren’t scientific or iron-clad, they give us a broad canvass for surveying many of the ways in which parents and their children have differed throughout the history of the United States.
These 27 generations, listed from youngest to oldest, are as follows:
Alphas: born early-2010s to PRESENT-DAY / 2024)
- Alphas = Gen AA (“double-AA,” like the battery!)
Zoomers: born mid-1990s to early-2010s
- Zoomers = Gen Z
Millennials: born early-1980s to mid-1990s
- Millennials = Gen Y
GenXers: born mid-1960s to early-1980s
- GenXers = Disruptors or Baby Busters
Baby Boomers: born mid-1940s to mid-1960s
- Baby Boomers = Leapers or Generation Jones
Traditionalists: born late-1920s to mid-1940s
- Traditionalists = “The Silent Generation”
GI-Gens: born early-1900s to late-1920s
- GI-Gens = “The Greatest Generation”
Hemingrebels: born late-1880s to early-1900s
- Hemingrebels = “The Lost Generation”
Missionaries: born early-1870s to late-1880s
- Missionaries = “The Final Gilded Generation”
Stowegressives: born late-1840s to early-1870s
- Stowegressives = “The Civil War Generation”
Golden Renegades: born early-1830s to late-1840s
- Golden Renegades = “The Third Gold Rush Generation”
Redeemers: born mid-1810s to early-1830s
- Redeemers = “The Second Gold Rush Generation”
Transcendentals: born late-1790s to mid-1810s
- Transcendentals = “The First Gold Rush Generation”
Unimpressionists: born late-1770s to late-1790s
- Unimpressionists = “The First Post-Revolutionary Generation”
Madisonians: born early-1760s to late-1770s
- Madisonians = “The Last Revolutionary Generation”
Goodpublicans: born mid-1740s to early-1760s
- Goodpublicans = “The Post-Founding Generation”
Liberty Lords: born late-1720s to mid-1740s
- Liberty Lords = “The Primary Founding Generation”
Septennials: born late-1700s to late-1720s
- Septennials = “The Pre-Founding Generation”
Enlightening Rods: born mid-1690s to late-1700s
- Enlightening Rods = “The Polymath Generation”
Lumineers: born mid-1670s to mid-1690s
- Lumineers = “The Continental Generation”
Glory Warriors: born late-1650s to mid-1670s
- Glory Warriors = “The Upheaval Generation”
Magnas: born early-1640s to late-1650s
- Magnas = “The Pluralistic Generation”
Cavaliers: born mid-1620s to early-1640s
- Cavaliers = “The Fearless Generation”
Kingdomites: born late-1600s to mid-1620s
- Kingdomites = “The Royalist Generation”
Inflectors: born early-1590s to late-1600s
- Inflectors = “The Puritan Generation”
Concentrics: born mid-1570s to early-1590s
- Concentrics = “The Feral Generation”
Parliamentarians: born early-1560s to mid-1570s
- Parliamentarians = “The Provisional Generation”
Keep in mind, I intend to build upon this research — often exploring niche topics across a generational framework.
Additionally, as many historicans will point out, people in past centuries would have had a much different outlook on what “generations” meant to them. For example, some families had siblings whose birthyears were literally two or three decades apart from one another!
“Jigsaw Gens” is intended to give us a chronological glimpse into how these generations, as broadly as they may be defined, would progress (or regress!) when it came to their behavior and values.
Eventually, I’d like to delve even deeper into the concept of microgenerations (“cusps”) that bridge together the youngest members of one generation with the oldest members of the next generation.
Until then, I hope you learn some new things from reading my anthology — scratching the surface of Americans’ journeys from the 1560s up through the present day.
This compilation was originally made available on July 4, 2024.
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