The Age of Doubt: American Thought and Culture in the 1940's (Twayne's American Thought and Culture Series) - Hardcover

Graebner, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805790616 ISBN 13: 9780805790610

Publisher: Twayne Pub, 1991

Synopsis

Examines the 1940s by looking at the impact of the changing role of women, the publication of Dr. Spock's book on child care, the production of movies, the debut of television, and more

About this title

From Library Journal

The author, winner of the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for Coal-Mining Safety in the Progressive Period ( LJ 6/15/76), counters the popular view of 1940s American cultural and intellectual life as belonging to two separate ages (the war years, 1940-45, and the postwar years, 1945-49). Graebner argues instead that the entire decade was unified and dominated by cultural characteristics rooted in doubt, contingency, and anxiety. In a readable, panoramic narrative he examines the uncertainty articulated by both cultural elites and common folk in art, movies, music, books, and other contemporary sources on such topics as morals and values, gender roles, cybernetics, high school fraternities, and World War II veterans. His unusual view of the 1940s as a culturally coherent decade will raise controversy. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- Charles L. Lump kins, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Both of these books are rich with telling detail and thoroughness, and consider the influences of literature, government, religion, and science on the given period. Graebner makes the 1940s come alive by examining the impact of the changing role of women, the publication of Dr. Spock's books on child care, the production (and messages) of the movies, as well as the debut of television and the impact of artists such as Jackson Pollock and John Cage. Matthews views the War of 1812 as the watershed event of the early 19th century. She describes the campaigns against infidelity and drinking, waged in order to strengthen society, and provides good coverage of the influences of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian thought and how they overlapped. The indexing, while good, does not fully reflect the amazing level of detail in the books.
- Barbara Weathers, Duchesne Academy, Houston, TX
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Twayne Pub
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0805790616
• ISBN 13: 9780805790610
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192