Halberstam, David The Fifties ISBN 13: 9780679415596

The Fifties - Hardcover

9780679415596: The Fifties
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the ten years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon, but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; U-2 pilot Gary Francis Powers; Grace Metalious, who wrote Peyton Place; and "Goody" Pincus, who led the team that invented the Pill.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the Trade Paperback edition.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
"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.
From the Back Cover:
"Fascinating...The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist leaves no stone of the '50s unturned."--The Washington Post Book World

"An engrossing sail across a pivotal decade."--Time

"Absorbing...Jack Kerouac and the Beats. Grace Metalious and Peyton Place. Betty Friedan and the first stirrings of the feminist movement. The Pill...The racial riots in Little Rock which didn't begin until the television cameras showed up, Elvis and the Hula-Hoops. All these phenomena and more were part of that conflicted and afflicted decade...[A} valuable book."--The Washington Post Book World

"Outstanding...As journalist David Halberstam shows in his latest work, events and key personalities during the '50s not only made the revolutionary '60s happen, they were also as full of ground-breaking episodes as any decade in 20th-century American history."--The Christian Science Monitor

"A journalist is a storyteller, and David Halberstam has a way with stories...He sweeps fluidly through crescendos and diminuendos, delivers morals and produces a satisfying second rough draft of history...A useful antidote to the '50s nostalgia that passes for 'traditional values.'"--San Francisco Chronicle

"Engaging...The message here is that the 1950s were not years of innocence but rather years when innocence was lost."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Fresh, dramatic...Halberstam's thesis about the decade is that, below its placid surface, great social ferment was occurring, a point he demonstrates eloquently by outlining the beginning of everything from the civil rights movement through the sexual revolution to the rise of rock-and-roll...His portrait of a decade is vivid and beguiling."--The New York Times

"Sinfully entertaining...Loaded with narrative horsepower...The only thing it's lacking is a pair of fuzzy dice."--Newsweek

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherVillard
  • Publication date1993
  • ISBN 10 0679415599
  • ISBN 13 9780679415596
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages800
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780449909331: The Fifties

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780449909331
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1994
Softcover

9780517156070: The Fifties

Random..., 1996
Hardcover

9780679747253: The Fifties

Random..., 1993
Softcover

9780449457993: The Fifties

Fawcet..., 1997
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GridFreed
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. In shrink wrap. Seller Inventory # 100-31816

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 13.95
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.45
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
EKER BOOKS
(Bryantown, MD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # mon0000073751

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.60
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard Books, New York (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
ThatsTheCatsMeow
(Goldsboro, NC, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. "The Fifties" is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the ten years that David Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. It is the decade of Joe McCarthy and the young Martin Luther King, the Korean War and Levittown, Jack Kerouae and Elvis Presley. With his extraordinary ability to erected dramatic yet intimate portraits, Halberstam not only gives us the titans of the age--Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon--but also Harley Earl, who put fins on cars: Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroe, who mass-produced the American hamburger: Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides: U2pilot Francis Gary Powers: Grace Metalious, who wrote "Peyton Place" and "Goody" Pincus, who led the team that invented the Pill. We follow, among other things, the quickening pace of American life and the powerful impact of national television, still in its infancy, on American society: from the Kefauver hearings to "I love Lucy" to Charles Van Doren and the quiz-show scandals to the young John Chancellor of NBC covering the Little Rock riots and holding up a disturbing mirror to America. Extra postage will be required due to the size of the book. Seller Inventory # 870

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 7.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0679415599-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 23.90
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0679415599-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 23.91
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0679415599

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.02
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 2
Seller:
THEVILLAGEBOOKSTORE
(Fall River, MA, U.S.A.)

Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. HC. Seller Inventory # 53MS9000019B

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 24.49
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0679415599

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 25.70
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
Published by Villard (1993)
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0679415599

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 28.05
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Halberstam, David
ISBN 10: 0679415599 ISBN 13: 9780679415596
New Soft cover First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
Flash Books
(Audubon, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE Advance Reading Copy-Uncorrected Proof-Not For Sale. 1st Edition-Stated. 1st Printing-Per Random House policy of starting the # line at 2 before 2005. New copy. Never read. Trade paperback format. Front cover has light crease bottom right. Some pages have the same light crease. Some pages have a tiny crush mark bottom right. COLLECTOR'S COPY. Seller Inventory # 001693

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 40.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book