Read and Download Ebook The Fifties... The Fifties David Halberstam PDF File: The Fifties... 1 Read and Download Ebook The Fifties... The Fifties David Halberstam The Fifties David Halberstam "In retrospect," writes David Halberstam, "the pace of the fifties seemed slower, almost languid. Social ferment, however, was beginning just beneath this placid surface." He shows how the United States began to emerge from the long shadow of FDR's 12-year presidency, with the military-industrial complex and the Beat movement simultaneously growing strong. Television brought not only situation comedies but controversial congressional hearings into millions of living rooms. While Alfred Kinsey was studying people's sex lives, Gregory Pincus and other researchers began work on a pill that would forever alter the course of American reproductive practices. Halberstam takes on these social upheavals and more, charting a course that is as easy to navigate as it is wide-ranging. The Fifties Details Date : Published (first published 1993) ISBN : Author : David Halberstam Format : Kindle Edition Genre : History, Nonfiction, North American Hi..., American History, Politics Download The Fifties ...pdf Read Online The Fifties ...pdf Download and Read Free Online The Fifties David Halberstam PDF File: The Fifties... 2 Read and Download Ebook The Fifties... From Reader Review The Fifties for online ebook Schuyler Wallace says David Halberstam’s reflective THE FIFTIES is a wonderful return to my formative years. I graduated from high school, went to college, got married, and had two children, all in the Fifties. Halberstam caught it all; not my personal story, but the events that occurred and their impact on life during that lively decade. Halberstam, the noted historian, journalist, and writer who died in a tragic car accident in 2007, remains one of my favorite writers because of his versatility. It’s difficult to put a label on his genre. In his career he published over twenty works that covered history, politics, the Civil Rights movement, media, culture, business, and, in his later years, a broad spectrum of sports. He wrote about the actions of and battles between American generals, media moguls, car industry giants, celebrities, foreign policy decisions, national economic positions, and sports luminaries. He was critical of many things but somehow managed to write about them with tact and almost unassailable logic. In THE FIFTIES, Halberstam uses the same writing style that was his hallmark. Clear concise accounts are presented on every topic that I recall as happening, as well as many I had forgotten. He recounts generals’ nonmilitary battles, car wars, the beginning of rock and roll and rise of Elvis, the sexual revolution, fast food, mass marketing, brooding movie stars, political favorites and failures, and the genesis of a great American tradition, the televised political debate. How in the world could he stuff that much information in one book? You’ll have to read it to get the answer. But it’s all there plus more, in Halberstam’s entertaining and conversant style. He considered the decade to be the foundation of what our nation is today. He believed that although the surface appeared peaceful, almost lethargic, there was an underlying social ferment beginning to roil to the top. Those of us who lived it, enjoyed it, and felt so calm as the 1950s unfolded, tend to push the nasty business of vocal and physical public dissent, with the sidebar of drug proliferation, into the Sixties. Halberstam seems to agree, although he doesn’t give us a free pass. Apparently he thinks of us as parents of such bastard children. It’s a must read. Darrel says Halberstam's epic masterpiece is a colossal historic narrative of the 50's that combines his usual incisive social commentary with sharp insight, weaving together seamlessly throughout. Always lively and analytical, The Fifties is arranged so well chronologically that it has a cinematic feel to it. It is easy for the reader to visualize the activity in each of the chapters - and it becomes addictive, compulsive reading after a short while. PDF File: The Fifties... 3 Read and Download Ebook The Fifties... The main, or overarching theme, of the book that he returns to in several chapters is the effect that America's obsession with the perceptions of the threat that Communism held then. Halberstam excellently conveys how the head-to-head confrontations transformed the American political landscape causing a dramatic shift from Democratic control to Republican dominance during the decade. But there are many 'stories' to tell about the 50's - and are told here. An early chapter explains the development of fast food and the 'marketing magic' behind it when discussing the McDonald brothers & Ray Kroc. Other chapters discuss how TV caused a major upheaval change in American culture, effecting virtually every key event or figure during the decade. The use of images and film, mass distribution of information and the editorializing of 'talking heads' on TV instantly changed the ways in which Americans could be influenced - and created the problem of "what's rhetoric - what's truth?" Interestingly, Halberstam focuses on the 'anti-heroes' of Hollywood during the era like Marlon Brando & James Dean. And he focuses on the vulnerability of Marilyn Monroe instead of her sexuality and mass appeal (both much discussed elsewhere already previously). There's also Levittown, the creation of Holiday Inn, the Quiz Show scandals, the invention of the birth control pill, the racial crisis at Little Rock...and so much more. The most important point I took away from my reading of this superior book is how the 50's paved the way for the social unrest and cultural disorder that came to a seething head in the 60's. It's critical to anyone's understanding to get a historical perspective of the decade of the 50's to fully comprehend why the changes that happened in the 60's came to be. Halberstam's comprehensive - yet even at 800 pages I'd say concise - The Fifties is a convincing, persuasive and logical account that neatly makes it evident that the changes of the 60's were a natural result of the previous decade. Carol Storm says Halberstam writes like a fuddy-duddy who has no respect for Elvis Presley, or James Dean, or for anything connected with the glory days of early rock and roll. On the other hand, there's some fascinating information about the early space program, in America and the USSR, the birth of the Civil Rights movement, and even the quiz show scandals on television. But not many men can totally hate on Douglas Macarthur AND Elvis Presley! What drove me to distraction as I read this book was trying to figure out the link between MacArthur and Elvis. Halberstam hated both of them. But how could an aristocratic army officer with enormous personal dignity, strategic and tactical genius, and ultra-right wing politics have anything in common with a greasy punk kid who had no values of any kind except moaning and making women want to touch themselves? Finally I figured it out. What Elvis and MacArthur had in common -- what David Halberstam can't stand -- is that neither one of them were team players. Halberstam, though he never says it, is really first and last an organization man. In Fifties terms, Halberstam is the man in the gray flannel suit. He admires strivers and upwardly mobile success, but only when it comes through ticket punching and playing by the rules. He loves guys like Joe DiMaggio and Edward R. Murrow because they worked hard to conform, to wear suits and act dignified, to efface their humble working-class origins. Elvis and Douglas MacArthur offend him because -- in his mind, at least -- both of them were showboats, egomaniacs, only in it for themselves. And he's right, as far as it goes. Elvis could be vulgar, and MacArthur could be ruthless, but neither of them could ever be anything but themselves. Halberstam is terrified by that level of self-assurance. PDF File: The Fifties... 4 Read and Download Ebook The Fifties... He admires talent but genius scares the hell out of him. It was ironic, Carol Storm often thought, that a man as pompous and pedantic as Halberstam was drawn so often to write about turbulent times and passionate individuals. He wrote always with an air of great importance, anxious to convey not only the seriousness of the subject but his own stature as journalist with every word he wrote. Yet when confronted with disturbing ideas or the inconvenient existence of perspectives different from his own, he seemed surprisingly clueless, almost at a loss. Perhaps in the end, his greatest gift was simply to trivialize the momentous, and to complicate the obvious. Sarah says Woot! I'm finally finished with this book! Every week my history teacher would assign my class a certain amount of pages due the following Monday, and every week I would wait until the Saturday and Sunday to read the 100-200 pages. Which meant that I would be forced to read those pages in one go, which took about 4-5 hours. Luckily, this book was interesting and enjoyable to read. Now, I'm sure all you non-history lovers would be fainting and cringing in disgust at the idea of having to read a history book, especially one that is almost 800 pages long. But history is really quite fascinating! I never realized how important a decade the fifties were, but it really was the changing point for creating what American society is today. Reading this book has helped me understand the time period better, not just as facts on a timeline, but with depth of people and events.