The Fifties - David Halberstam

[Cybrweez]

I'll just post some reviews I put on Visual Bookshelf in facebook. Maybe some care and generate some interest in history forum.


It was a bit of a rollercoaster w/this book. After the first 3 or 4 chapters, I was debating whether to quit. I had read 'The Coldest Winter' by Halberstam, and thought it was well written, and was disappointed w/this book. But thankfully, I kept with it. 2 things stood out at first that wanted me to quit.

The first was that there didn't seem to be any organization, or an attempt to explain an overarching theme. Probably after just reading 'The Rise of American Democracy', which set out to show how a particular thing developed throughout American history, this was such a contrast that it felt weird. One chapter would be about the Truman election in 1948, the next chapter about GM and how they dominated the auto market. You really could just read any chapter, and not miss anything (almost, there are some that are tied together). But after finishing the book, I can appreciate the approach. For those who remember the '50s, its a great look back. For those who don't know much, its a great look at what happened in the decade.

The second issue was the overuse, or abuse maybe, of "labels", especially liberal/conservative, and right/left wing. For one thing, he never attempts to define what these labels mean, you should just know what liberals are, or a conservative. Secondly, it seems they can almost mean anything, and I remember one statement about someone who was a unique conservative, b/c they believed in something that most conservatives didn't. Just seems weird, so what makes a conservative then? Maybe there's a bulleted list of what a conservative believes, and if you believe in some percentage, you're a conservative? But, we don't know the list, so we have to guess. In any case, its a good reminder for me to stay away from such labels, but that's a hard thing to do.

As for the events of the '50s, Halberstam does a great job of moving through the decade in somewhat chronological order, and trying to point out why certain things were important. I think the overall theme would be that most people think of the '60s as the crazy, wild, exciting decade, and the '50s the uptight, "conservative" decade, w/Ozzie and Harriet families in houses w/white picket fences. But, the events, and changes, wrought in the '50s are what led to the events of the '60s, which isn't really rocket science, but probably a good point nonetheless.

Quite a lot of interesting things: the start and growth of McDonalds, Holiday Inn, McCarthyism, computers, covert military coups, Castro, cars as a status item. There was an interesting chapter about GM, which was the dominant car maker by far, and how the power shifted from the engineering dept to the marketing dept. Little wonder few decades later its well known American cars are inferior in quality. But there was an ancedote about the new CEO of GM, in an early meeting talking about the stock price, and one particular employee remarking they had never talked about stock price before. They focused on making good cars, and the stock price would take care of itself. This was the beginning of the change to focus on the stock price as the top priority, not making good cars. A mindset corporations are still in today, obviously.

It was interesting to learn about the rise of the rebel, starting w/Marlon Brando in late '40s, then James Dean and Elvis. You think of Brando as the guy from Godfather, but he was a sex symbol and rebel actor who Dean almost worshipped. Someone said it can be valuable for a legend to die young, and I think that's why most think of Dean as the original. After having read 'East of Eden' recently, I'll have to try to find the movie w/Dean. He also talked about Marilyn Monroe, her quick rise to fame. Spent one chapter on sports, particularly the rise of football, due to the television.

One of the most dramatic changes for the culture was the TV. The affluence of the '50s allowed most families to have a TV, which was just coming into its own. It led to a lot of changes, such as consumerism, and possibly its counter, conformance. The rise of advertising and its power in the country was prominent. And the decade ends w/a Presidential candidate who knew the power of it, and was able to take advantage of good looks in winning the 1960 election. But JFK is for the '60s.

Another dramatic change, the beginning of the civil rights movement. The Emmett Till trial, the Montgomery boycott and Brown vs Board of Ed (leading to Little Rock) were catalysts for Americans to bring pressure on the backwards south. The author's take is that the TV may have been the biggest contributor, b/c it allowed people outside of the local region to see what was happening. Previously, it was easier for the white power to suppress any black nuisance, especialy controlling the print media. But with cameras there, especially in Little Rock when an out of control mob is harrassing a teenage girl w/such hatred, it became hard for Americans not to respond w/their own moral outrage. And some black leaders knew the power of the TV, notably Martin Luther King, Jr. He knew 2 things would really help the cause, finding the city w/a particularly nasty individual (so it was easy to have a villain), and having national TV on the scene.

Overall an enjoyable book if you're interested in what's happened in this country's history.

[Cord Hurn]

The rising influence of television was I think the most significant thing in producing social change.