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The Crucial Decade-and After: America 1945-1960
book has highlightings,pages are dis-colored,but in decent shape!
349 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1956
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85 people want to read
About the author
Eric F. Goldman
22 books4 followersEric Frederick Goldman was an American historian, Rollins Professor of History at Princeton University, and Presidential advisor.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a Ph.D. in history at age 22. He wrote on national affairs for TIME magazine.In addition ,throughout the course of his life, his works appeared in Harper's Magazine,Holiday,Saturday Review,and The New York Times.
He joined Princeton University as an assistant professor in 1942. He became a full professor in 1955, until retirement in 1985. He was special advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1963 to 1966.He served as president of the Society of American Historians from 1962 to 1969.From 1959 to 1967, he was the moderator on the television program, The Open Mind, on NBC network.
He married Joanna R. Jackson (died 1980). His papers are held at the Library of Congress, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a Ph.D. in history at age 22. He wrote on national affairs for TIME magazine.In addition ,throughout the course of his life, his works appeared in Harper's Magazine,Holiday,Saturday Review,and The New York Times.
He joined Princeton University as an assistant professor in 1942. He became a full professor in 1955, until retirement in 1985. He was special advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1963 to 1966.He served as president of the Society of American Historians from 1962 to 1969.From 1959 to 1967, he was the moderator on the television program, The Open Mind, on NBC network.
He married Joanna R. Jackson (died 1980). His papers are held at the Library of Congress, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 27, 2016
An enjoyable generalized history written for the non-historian and college Freshman. Also a terrific primary source history book. Mr. Goldman covers the ten years from 1945 - 1955. Originally published in 1956 it can be argued that it was too soon to be considered a true history. It takes several decades for the lessons learned to sink in and be analyzed. What Mr. Goldman did was basically write a synopsis of the previous ten years with some commentary thrown in. However many of the people that he wrote about contributed to the final editing of the book and provided him with input. As a result the book has a sense of immediacy.
Personally I like to read sources written during the time. Though the writers ,understandably, lack the knowledge of all the details (that's the advantage of researching fifty or sixty years later) they provide the reader with a sense of what people were thinking and feeling at the time. Not what later generations think/believe about the time period or what survivors of that time want us to think about them. Since it's contemporary it's too soon for the agendas to have taken on the air of respectability - it's still too raw. I ,for one, like that. It makes them more Human - more accessible.
On the academic side it's also intriguing to see what Mr. Goldman in 1956 thought was of historical significance. While much of what he covers (McCarthy, Red Scare, Korea, Eisenhower)has gone on to become of historical significance there are other things that he doesn't even bring up (Berlin Air Lift, beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, computers etc).
Yet Mr. Goldman gives Alger Hiss several pages in the type of book in which page space is at a premium. The Alger Hiss case ,in many ways, has been relegated to historical footnote status. That's not a criticism of Mr. Goldman. Just an observation that nobody can really know what events and trends will take on historical significance and others will fade.
The edition I read was published in 1960 and has two additional chapters which cover the five years from 1955 - 1960.
All in all an interesting read and worthy of keeping in my library for while it is a survey of fifteen years it's a survey written when the events were taking place. It gives you a direct line to the 1950's and makes that time period real. The decade was far more than tail-fins,"I Love Lucy", Elvis Presley, the Cold War and subdivisions.
Personally I like to read sources written during the time. Though the writers ,understandably, lack the knowledge of all the details (that's the advantage of researching fifty or sixty years later) they provide the reader with a sense of what people were thinking and feeling at the time. Not what later generations think/believe about the time period or what survivors of that time want us to think about them. Since it's contemporary it's too soon for the agendas to have taken on the air of respectability - it's still too raw. I ,for one, like that. It makes them more Human - more accessible.
On the academic side it's also intriguing to see what Mr. Goldman in 1956 thought was of historical significance. While much of what he covers (McCarthy, Red Scare, Korea, Eisenhower)has gone on to become of historical significance there are other things that he doesn't even bring up (Berlin Air Lift, beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, computers etc).
Yet Mr. Goldman gives Alger Hiss several pages in the type of book in which page space is at a premium. The Alger Hiss case ,in many ways, has been relegated to historical footnote status. That's not a criticism of Mr. Goldman. Just an observation that nobody can really know what events and trends will take on historical significance and others will fade.
The edition I read was published in 1960 and has two additional chapters which cover the five years from 1955 - 1960.
All in all an interesting read and worthy of keeping in my library for while it is a survey of fifteen years it's a survey written when the events were taking place. It gives you a direct line to the 1950's and makes that time period real. The decade was far more than tail-fins,"I Love Lucy", Elvis Presley, the Cold War and subdivisions.
January 20, 2011
I studied this book in college--almost five decades ago--but it has been in my thoughts recently as that decade immediately following World War Two seems to have marked the high water mark of America. Sometime in the decades since, we started on the downhill slope, following Britain, France and others. The peace and prosperity so dearly bought in the Depression and two world wars has been squandered on international adventures of doubtful necessity and internal narcissism of certain stupidity. America is coasting; living on the intellectual, emotional and fiscal capital of previous generations.
Many of the trends which have come or are coming to fruit budded during that crucial decade. And we seem too self-absorbed to recognize it or take corrective action.
As Pogo the Possum said forty years ago, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Many of the trends which have come or are coming to fruit budded during that crucial decade. And we seem too self-absorbed to recognize it or take corrective action.
As Pogo the Possum said forty years ago, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
February 20, 2010
I read this book during my senior year in high school. It definitely opened my eyes to the world.
March 17, 2023
Nota Bene: Please read this review with The Police's "Born in the Fifties" playing in the background.
Isn't it curious how we view the Fifties through Manichean lenses ? Either the Eisenhowerian Age of mass conformity, "the most boring decade in the history of man" Norman Mailer called it, or a time of upheaval, from McCarthyism to Sputnik. Eric Goldman, a shining star among American historians and one-time advisor to President Lyndon Johnson (a career choice he came to deeply regret) wisely decided to begin his history of the Fifties in 1945, for historical decades are not coeval with chronological decades. In 1945 America stood alone as the world's only atomic power and industrial powerhouse. So, why were Americans so anxious and even depressed. One answer touted by Goldman is that citizens of the atomic power feared, with good reason, the end of the world through nuclear war, and wartime prosperity had produced a consumer society where everything and everyone was for sale. (Consider how Eisenhower was bought and sold by the Republicans like a bar of soap. Worse was to come. The Russian explosion of an atomic device combined with a stalemated war in Korea fostered frustration and then paranoia. Think of every sci-fi film of the Fifties, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, INVADERS FROM MARS, etc. recounting the "enemy is inside our houses and our minds" tales. McCarthy and Nixon exploited these fears; they did not create them. Or, the great scare over juvenile delinquency, factual or not, and captured on film in poetic form (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) and trash (I WAS A SHOPLIFTER). And, that swill of religious pictures, designed to convince Americans God was on their side in the Cold War. (My personal favorite is RED PLANET MARS, where God radios to earth and calls on the Russkies to overthrow their commie masters.). Still, Goldman finds signs of hope and winds of change. Lenny Bruce and his "sick humor" broke through the school and government lies that all was swell with America. Joseph Welsh took down McCarthy, appropriately on television. (Goldman notes that in addition to Welsh, McCarthy now had to compete with I LOVE LUCY.) The Fifties came to an end not just because the calendar turned over into 1960 but by the rise of everyone from John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King Jr. to America's new nemesis, Fidel Castro. This is social and cultural history at its finest. You will look back and laugh through tears.
Isn't it curious how we view the Fifties through Manichean lenses ? Either the Eisenhowerian Age of mass conformity, "the most boring decade in the history of man" Norman Mailer called it, or a time of upheaval, from McCarthyism to Sputnik. Eric Goldman, a shining star among American historians and one-time advisor to President Lyndon Johnson (a career choice he came to deeply regret) wisely decided to begin his history of the Fifties in 1945, for historical decades are not coeval with chronological decades. In 1945 America stood alone as the world's only atomic power and industrial powerhouse. So, why were Americans so anxious and even depressed. One answer touted by Goldman is that citizens of the atomic power feared, with good reason, the end of the world through nuclear war, and wartime prosperity had produced a consumer society where everything and everyone was for sale. (Consider how Eisenhower was bought and sold by the Republicans like a bar of soap. Worse was to come. The Russian explosion of an atomic device combined with a stalemated war in Korea fostered frustration and then paranoia. Think of every sci-fi film of the Fifties, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, INVADERS FROM MARS, etc. recounting the "enemy is inside our houses and our minds" tales. McCarthy and Nixon exploited these fears; they did not create them. Or, the great scare over juvenile delinquency, factual or not, and captured on film in poetic form (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE) and trash (I WAS A SHOPLIFTER). And, that swill of religious pictures, designed to convince Americans God was on their side in the Cold War. (My personal favorite is RED PLANET MARS, where God radios to earth and calls on the Russkies to overthrow their commie masters.). Still, Goldman finds signs of hope and winds of change. Lenny Bruce and his "sick humor" broke through the school and government lies that all was swell with America. Joseph Welsh took down McCarthy, appropriately on television. (Goldman notes that in addition to Welsh, McCarthy now had to compete with I LOVE LUCY.) The Fifties came to an end not just because the calendar turned over into 1960 but by the rise of everyone from John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King Jr. to America's new nemesis, Fidel Castro. This is social and cultural history at its finest. You will look back and laugh through tears.
900-999-geography-history
October 31, 2019973.18
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May 1, 2022DNF
February 1, 2012
Really great summary of the post WWII period. Goldmann captures the language and the emotion of the time with surprising clarity, given the fact that he wrote it relatively soon after the decade he elaborates on.
April 24, 2013
Reading again, April 2013
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews