Search - The Fifties

This was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable book I ever read. I have since read many other Halberstam books. Having lived through the fifties, then reading about all the various events and creations of that time was an eye opening experience. I was absolutely struck by the WOW effect and could not wait for the next scenario. Hated to reach the end and will read it again before I leave. Any reader will be amazed at the things that came about during the FIFTIES.

This is a great book about the 50s - puts much into perspective, especially for those of us born in that decade! I wish I could post my copy, but I my dog got ahold of the cover and it is taped together! Still readable if anyone wants it.

Those who hesitate to jam an 800-page non-fiction book into their schedule should take heart. The short readable chapters focus on portraits of figures we all have heard of but were fuzzy as to why they were important: Dean Acheson, Adlai Stevenson, Robert Taft, Edward Teller, Earl Warren, Alfred Kinsey, Francis Gary Powers, Betty Friedan, and Robert Oppenheimer. For a break, Halberstam gives brief biographies of the unserious ones as well: Lucy, Elvis, Brando, James Dean, Marilyn, and Hugh Hefner. And some portraits of individuals are in-between: his story of Grace Metalious, best-selling author, shows how her novel Peyton Place influenced the world of publishing and mass reading preferences but it is also the sad tale of one person’s inability to deal with success. This history is engrossing.