The Fifties [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Halberstam excels at mixing complex subjects with interesting personalities, showing how individuals in the act of being who they are influences the course of events, trends and the course of history. He masterfully guides us through the ways in which the country began to emerge from the shadowy constraints and privations of the wartime years to a new, brighter and more affluent material future with the burgeoning boom of the fifties, chronicling a plethora of ways in which this massive cultural change in circumstances and material means influenced the society itself. It was a time of superficial numbing conformity for many while a time of startling experimentation for others, like the Beats. And everywhere, things seemed to be rapidly changing, from tastes in food, music and entertainment to ways in which people became educated and found useful employment.

Underneath the surface of all this conformity and innovation was a pulsing impetus to change, a curious openness to novelty and difference, to a more abundant and material definition of the good life for the average American. Yet there was also some ugly and negative aspects to the subterranean impulse of American society in the fifties, from Joe McCarthy to the race riots in the South, from our hysterical preoccupation with the "red menace" to our own social intolerances, and the author places these in the context of a decade caught in the divergent currents of two quite oppositional streams of change; from a more monolithic mainstream conservativism to a more open-minded and pluralistic social liberalism on the one hand, and from a small-town and family-oriented orientation to a much more individualistic and urban scheme of existence.

This is a wonderful book, one providing an excellent panoramic perspective of a decade that saw the withering away of the old and more simple America of the first half century to one becoming more progressive, more affluent, and much more pluralistic and open to change. While those of us reading these things may not embrace the notion that most of this is necessarily for the betterment of society or the ultimate progress of mankind, it is hard to quibble with such an eloquent, articulate, and entertaining portrait of America in transition. I highly recommend this book, and hope it is even more widely read. Enjoy!

Halberstam excels at mixing complex subjects with interesting personalities, showing how individuals in the act of being who they are influences the course of events, trends and the course of history. He masterfully guides us through the ways in which the country began to emerge from the shadowy constraints and privations of the wartime years to a new, brighter and more affluent material future with the burgeoning boom of the fifties, chronicling a plethora of ways in which this massive cultural change in circumstances and material means influenced the society itself. It was a time of superficial numbing conformity for many while a time of startling experimentation for others, like the Beats. And everywhere, things seemed to be rapidly changing, from tastes in food, music and entertainment to ways in which people became educated and found useful employment.

Underneath the surface of all this conformity and innovation was a pulsing impetus to change, a curious openness to novelty and difference, to a more abundant and material definition of the good life for the average American. Yet there was also some ugly and negative aspects to the subterranean impulse of American society in the fifties, from Joe McCarthy to the race riots in the South, from our hysterical preoccupation with the "red menace" to our own social intolerances, and the author places these in the context of a decade caught in the divergent currents of two quite oppositional streams of change; from a more monolithic mainstream conservativism to a more open-minded and pluralistic social liberalism on the one hand, and from a small-town and family-oriented orientation to a much more individualistic and urban scheme of existence.

This is a wonderful book, one providing an excellent panoramic perspective of a decade that saw the withering away of the old and more simple America of the first half century to one becoming more progressive, more affluent, and much more pluralistic and open to change. While those of us reading these things may not embrace the notion that most of this is necessarily for the betterment of society or the ultimate progress of mankind, it is hard to quibble with such an eloquent, articulate, and entertaining portrait of America in transition. I highly recommend this book, and hope it is even more widely read. Enjoy!

If you like non-fiction, this is a good one.