The 1950s (Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades)

Rating:
Summary: A decade of polio vaccine, desegregation and Mickey Mouse
Review: The 1960s are usually considered the most turbulent decade of the 20th century, but as readers of this book by Stuart A. Kallen will discover, the stage was for most of what happened during the 1950s. Kallen introduces the times as The Black-and-White Decade, record by countless photographs and television shows. There are seven theme-based chapters: (1) Superpowers and the Cold War looks at US-Soviet tensions from end of the Korean War to the beginning of the Space Race; (2) The Cold War at Home includes McCarthyism and learning to love the bomb; (3) The Struggle for Equality covers school desegregation and the Montgomery bus boycott; (4) Growing Up in the Fifties tells of the growth of the suburbs and the rise of consumerism; (5) The Golden Age of Television featuring Milton Berle and "I Love Lucy"; (6) Rock, Writing, and Beatnik Rebellion focuses on Elvis Presley, "Catcher in the Rye," and Jack Kerouac; and (7) Technology and Science examines the influence of nuclear power, plastics and pesticide. As an epilogue, Kallen talks about Swinging into the Sixties, setting up the historic transition from Ike to JFK in the White House.

This volume is part of the series A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades, which is something of a misnomer since it certainly looks at much more than culture, covering technology and significant political and social events. Still, these books do cover cultural aspects more than your standard American History textbook. The book is filled with numerous photographs and informative sidebars on topics such as bomb shelters, bridge parties, Jackson Pollock, and buying shoes with radioactive tools. The back of the book includes notes, bibliographies, a chronology of events, and a detailed index. Both students and teachers will find a lot of information, well organized, that will give them a better sense of how much was happening in the 1950s, the decade before the country exploded.