Award-winning author Howard Reiss delivers a heartfelt meditation on friendship, identity, and the long shadow of history in his novel After Woodstock. Set in the aftermath of the iconic 1969 music festival, Reiss masterfully unpacks how one moment in time can shape—and sometimes fracture—the course of a life.
Through the fictional lives of Jack and Bryan—two childhood friends who attended the festival together—Reiss answers that question. The novel follows their relationship over five decades, revealing how their lives splinter and reconnect, told in part through the letters they exchange over the years.
Jack, once destined to be a brilliant computer scientist, takes a different turn after Woodstock, pulled deeper into the ideals of peace, love, and resistance. Bryan, meanwhile, pursues the high-powered legal career he always dreamed of. Their diverging paths highlight not just personal choices, but a broader commentary on America’s cultural and moral crossroads post-1969.
Reiss situates the story in the rich historical context of a pivotal year—the Stonewall Riots, the moon landing, the Chappaquiddick scandal, the Manson murders, and the Vietnam War all loom in the background, creating a sense of urgency and transformation.
What makes After Woodstock so affecting is its emotional core. It’s not just a story of a friendship tested by time, distance, and ideology—it’s a meditation on who we become, and how our past lives alongside us. Reiss brings a deeply personal lens to universal themes of loss, loyalty, and legacy.
In After Woodstock, Reiss reminds readers that the ties of true friendship—like the echoes of a generation-defining weekend—don’t fade with time. They evolve, they deepen, and they endure.
For those who came of age in the ’60s—or simply long to understand the heartbeat of a transformative era—this novel offers an intimate, resonant journey through time, memory, and the unbreakable bond between two friends.