Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining pop-history of the US from Korea to Kennedy
Review: Halberstam's Fifties is a highly readable text which uses gossipy personal storytelling to cover a panorama of subjects from Korea and Eisenhower to the Pill and Elvis. The book is an easy read and can be readily broken down by chapters for the tepid browser. Halberstam is annoyingly left-wing in his opinions of personalities (I say this being no right-winger myself). He tends to simplify people into good guys and bad guys, but his knowledge is formidable and his subjects dynamically varient. What strikes a reader like me, born well after the Ike era, is the dynamic nature of that decade. He is particulary good on popular culture and domestic inovations whose effects rage strong today. The Fifties is a fun and informative book!
Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Look at the 50's
Review: I always considered the 1950's one of the more boring periods in our history, but I read the book because I'll read anything David Halberstam writes. He entertained me with the stories in this book and proved me wrong in my assumption that it was a boring decade. There was quite a bit going on in this country during the decade, from the explosion of TV and Rock & Roll, to the Korean War. The baby boom was going strong and new businesses like McDonalds and Holiday Inn were spreading all over the country. Halberstam fills us in on all this and a lot more. I love his writing style and he always does a great job of researching the topic. This book was a pleasant surprise.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Look at the 50's
Review: I always considered the 1950's one of the more boring periods in our history, but I read the book because I'll read anything David Halberstam writes. He entertained me with the stories in this book and proved me wrong in my assumption that it was a boring decade. There was quite a bit going on in this country during the decade, from the explosion of TV and Rock & Roll, to the Korean War. The baby boom was going strong and new businesses like McDonalds and Holiday Inn were spreading all over the country. Halberstam fills us in on all this and a lot more. I love his writing style and he always does a great job of researching the topic. This book was a pleasant surprise.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelming
Review: I am living in Belgium and here we are plunged in a world of stereotypes about the American society. Reading that book has enabled me to have a clearer picture about what was going on in the US at that time. This book is very rich and drives you to read more about all the topics it covers : the creation of the Mc Donald, the civil rights movement, the emergence of publicity on tv, the presidential campaigns, the atomic bomb, the dialogue with Russia, the creation of Holiday Inn, are only a few of them. The information is just overwhelming. I bought three other books by D. Halberstam, I love his style, his ability to mix history and the narrative, it really is an enjoyable experience to read his books. Don't hesitate !
Rating:
Summary: Very pleased
Review: I continue to reference this book years after its initial reading. Entertaining & informative
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Overview of an Underappreciated Decade
Review: I first encountered a healthy dose of David Halberstam's prose while in graduate school in the early 1970s when I read the "Best and the Brightest", and I have read a number of his books since. His approach is appealing here, doling out a dollop of contemporary history along with goodly portions of personal character investigation, celebrity coverage, and cultural commentary. Somehow, regardless of the particular subject, his unique and somewhat unorthodox approach seems to work quite well. Here he focuses on what he argues is a pivotal decade in explaining what it is we Americans have become in the half-century Since World War Two. It was in the depths of the seemingly placid fifties that many of the changes to modern society first appeared, from the introduction of mass-produced televisions to the Kefauver congressional hearings, from the gyrating pulses of rock & roll and the controversial and provocative antics of Elvis Presley to the painful and dramatic beginnings of the civil rights movement, it is all here portrayed lovingly, accurately, and with sustained good humor. Halberstam excels at mixing complex subjects with interesting personalities, showing how individuals in the act of being who they are influences the course of events, trends and the course of history. He masterfully guides us through the ways in which the country began to emerge from the shadowy constraints and privations of the wartime years to a new, brighter and more affluent material future with the burgeoning boom of the fifties, chronicling a plethora of ways in which this massive cultural change in circumstances and material means influenced the society itself. It was a time of superficial numbing conformity for many while a time of startling experimentation for others, like the Beats. And everywhere, things seemed to be rapidly changing, from tastes in food, music and entertainment to ways in which people became educated and found useful employment. Underneath the surface of all this conformity and innovation was a pulsing impetus to change, a curious openness to novelty and difference, to a more abundant and material definition of the good life for the average American. Yet there was also some ugly and negative aspects to the subterranean impulse of American society in the fifties, from Joe McCarthy to the race riots in the South, from our hysterical preoccupation with the "red menace" to our own social intolerances, and the author places these in the context of a decade caught in the divergent currents of two quite oppositional streams of change; from a more monolithic mainstream conservativism to a more open-minded and pluralistic social liberalism on the one hand, and from a small-town and family-oriented orientation to a much more individualistic and urban scheme of existence. This is a wonderful book, one providing an excellent panoramic perspective of a decade that saw the withering away of the old and more simple America of the first half century to one becoming more progressive, more affluent, and much more pluralistic and open to change. While those of us reading these things may not embrace the notion that most of this is necessarily for the betterment of society or the ultimate progress of mankind, it is hard to quibble with such an eloquent, articulate, and entertaining portrait of America in transition. I highly recommend this book, and hope it is even more widely read. Enjoy!
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Summary: A GREAT INSIGHT FOR ANYONE WHO DIDN'T LIVE IN THE 50'S
Review: I learned so much about the decade of the 50's in this book! Everyone knows a lot about the 1960's, but the 50's also have some great stories to tell. From politics, McDonald's, and Korea to the beginning of TV, Halberstam covers it all. If you like non-fiction, this is a good one.
Rating:
Summary: good book, a little slanted
Review: I light history of selected events that took place in the Fifties. The book tended to try break the common memory of the fifties as being a perfect time. That purpose got into the way of some of the stories. The slant was just a little too much for me. Being rather young, I did like hearing about the way things were back then. I wish there was more information on culture and less on politics. The politics can be found in most history books. This book caused much reflection of what I remember about the seventies. I now regard the past in a more objective manner. Good but a little disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Closest thing to a time machine.
Review: I received this hefty text several years ago as a gift. Let me say, it was truly that. This book really brings the roots and context of the era in which we live into sharp focus. From the genesis of the television culture to the real beginnings of the sexual revolution, the book is matched in its breadth only by its deep insight into so many facets of modern American life. My reading habits generally lean towards non-fiction, because I truly believe that fact is many times stranger than fiction. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal about the generation that came before me (I was born in 1969). Levittown, Korea, The Kinsey Report, McDonalds, General Motors, the Beat Generation, just a few of the topics which Mr. Halberstam thoughtfully weaves into a coloful and detailed whole. Finally, although this is a substantial book in terms of the sheer number of pages, it is also very reader-friendly. The chapters are broken into distinct topics so that the whole work can be picked-up and put-down over a long period of time without loosing the interest of the reader. Man, would I love to sit down with this gentleman and pick his brain. Thank you, thank you, thank you David Halberstam.
Rating:
Summary: Closest thing to a time machine.
Review: I received this hefty text several years ago as a gift. Let me say, it was truly that. This book really brings the roots and context of the era in which we live into sharp focus. From the genesis of the television culture to the real beginnings of the sexual revolution, the book is matched in its breadth only by its deep insight into so many facets of modern American life. My reading habits generally lean towards non-fiction, because I truly believe that fact is many times stranger than fiction. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal about the generation that came before me (I was born in 1969). Levittown, Korea, The Kinsey Report, McDonalds, General Motors, the Beat Generation, just a few of the topics which Mr. Halberstam thoughtfully weaves into a coloful and detailed whole. Finally, although this is a substantial book in terms of the sheer number of pages, it is also very reader-friendly. The chapters are broken into distinct topics so that the whole work can be picked-up and put-down over a long period of time without loosing the interest of the reader. Man, would I love to sit down with this gentleman and pick his brain. Thank you, thank you, thank you David Halberstam.
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