The Long Sixties: A Review
One of the first things that anyone will notice about the book, The Long Sixties by Christopher B. Strain is its size. For a book, with the word “long” in the tile, it is surprisingly short, wrapping up at just under two hundred pages in the paperback printing. Strain addresses the length of his book right up front in his Preface by admitting that the book is not intended to be a complete dissection of the time, but an overview of a complex period in American history. But once you get past the size of the book and dive in to the story of The Sixties you start to understand how long they really were. The book is thoughtfully organized, well defined, and has a lot of personality. This personality shines through the language used throughout the book and the pictures and cartoons chosen for each chapter.
To get the most out of The Long Sixties, it is important to know who you are going to take this long, strange trip with. Christopher Strain received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkley in 2000 and specializes in modern American History. Strain is currently an Associate Professor of History and American Studies at Florida Atlantic University where he teaches classes each year about Civil Rights, African American History, and the 1960’s. He is a well-established author, having four
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In it we are introduced to life in the 50’s, the Cold War, a great society, the rise of a rebellious generation, a war with lasting consequences, the space age and drug age, and the reversing of political ideals with the Nixon administration. Strain takes the reader through all these movements and moments with ease and shows that The Sixties were more than just a decade where the baby boomers grew up, but that they were an age of change that would influence the nation for decades to
After World War 1, American society was rife with both conflict and opposing ideals. By this same token, traditional Americans had still stubbornly clung to their old puritanical traditions and small town life as manifested in the K.K.K. However, a new generation of Americans had reacted to the Great War with new political doctrines, debatable views of religion, and emerging social and artistic movements. New Heightened tensions had demonstrated how this new generation of Americans had reacted to the Great War. Disputes over religion, politics, and the arts had highlighted the division between modern and traditional Americans.
Sarah Mcphillips Brown Advanced Literature 2.3.17 It was a hard time for people in the 1950’s. People were either having fun or worrying about the loved ones in war. Lives and societies were changed for the best or for the worst. Not one person knew how the end of the wars would turn ot.
Prior to reading this engaging, yet historical-filled book, my personal amount of knowledge on our nation 's history, as well as the founders who created it, lacked. Joseph J. Ellis -philosopher, and winner of a pulitzer prize- uses his awareness and understanding of American history to provide readers with a ‘modern insight’, enabling us to paint a picture in our minds what really occurred during the beginning years of our nation. While reading this book, it directs your attention to six key events. Within each of these events, Ellis describes the people involved in these particular affairs (the founding fathers), their lives, and also the relationships these men shared.
2 It is essential to go back to the fifties to be able to understand the sixties historically and sociologically. The fifties brought relief since the Depression and war were over, and now “science was mobilized by industry, and capital was channeled by government as never before.” 3 This new affluence gave the United States the ability to create suburbia and conform to moving in. This affected the sixties because conformity resulted in people rebelling.
The contextual backdrop of the 1960s shapes the narrative, reflecting the disintegration of traditional values and societal coherence. By anchoring the essay in this era, Didion establishes a relatable connection with readers who experienced similar cultural and social changes. Her status as a renowned writer and observer of California further bolsters her credibility, lending weight to her arguments. Through the seamless blending of personal reflection and cultural criticism, Didion offers a unique and intimate perspective. For instance, the opening sentence, "Several days passed before I could admit to myself that I had flown to San Francisco because I wanted to watch a man die" (Didion 232), captivates readers, setting the tone and demonstrating her adeptness at engaging the audience and piquing their
What We Really Miss About The 1950s In her essay, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s”, Stephany Coontz talks about the myth of the 1950s. She begins her argument by stating some reasons why the nostalgia for the 1950s exists. The main thing Americans miss about the those days is the stability. She acknowledges that this fallacy is not insane.
Turbulence of the 1960s The 1960’s is often described as the most turbulent decade of the twentieth century because of its numerous radical movements and the assassinations that occurred. The decade is filled with many social and political movements: Civil Rights Movement, Protest movements, the Women’s Liberation Movement, Red Power Movement, and Environmentalism. After the conformity of the 1950’s the Men and Women of America were looking to reform society to be unprejudiced and they did this through several unhinged social and political movements.
With more widespread access to magazines, news, movies, and other “luxuries”, the containment of individuality and shared opinions of those not in the upper status became increasingly hard. In short, the political leaders of this time tried too hard to control population, cultural assimilation, and force of growth of industry. He uses the historical facts about important public figures of the time such as Theodore Roosevelt, W.E.B Du Bois, and the Rockefellers while explaining and aligning the movements themes and events in relation to the rebels and the Progressives during the particular period of the era he was outlining. He uses these characters of time
The history of the United States of America is vast and complex, encompassing thousands of events that all helped form it into a modern day superpower. When reflecting on the history of America, many historians remind us of major events that changed the course of the country's development. Many authors of these works analyze American historical events through the perspective of the people living through that event or through a 21st-Century viewpoint. However, there are fewer authors who are able to successfully illustrate more about an event than what can be visibly seen or inferred by a reader. Mark Feige, a history professor and writer, is one of the few authors who is able to uncover additional information in American history.
Violent protest and nonviolent protest in Civil Right Movement In American history, the period of the 1960s always was considered a decade of great social change. This is the era that the group of lower class or color skin became stronger and more confident to assert themselves even though white people still dominated every aspect of American society. During this period, American Civil Rights Movements emerged everywhere, such as Native-Americans Movement, Women’s Movement, Latino Movement, and especially African Americans Movement. By that time, there are many varieties of actions that civil rights activists waged to seek to end racial inequality and secure rights in political, social, and economic for African Americans.
Throughout Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut intertwines reality and fiction to provide the reader with an anti-war book in a more abstract form. To achieve this abstraction, Kurt Vonnegut utilizes descriptive images, character archetypes, and various themes within the novel. By doing so, he created a unique form of literature that causes the reader to separate reality from falsehood in both their world, and in the world within Vonnegut’s mind. Vonnegut focuses a lot on the characters and their actions in “Slaughterhouse Five.”
Argumentative Research Paper: Cat’s Cradle I. Introduction a. TAG: The novel Cat’s Cradle was written by Kurt Vonnegut b. Context: It is an imaginative fantasy, in which the exact date and time are not clearly established, as is common with science fiction. The novel 's plot reflects the cold war atmosphere of the early 1960s.
Similarly explainable, are the adverse effects inspired by America’s push for conformity and consumerism following 1945. Regarding these years, historical statistics suggest a triumphant American atmosphere due to a victorious war outcome and economic affluence, but these positives quickly turned to negatives for certain societal sectors. Most notably, the unit that would grow to be labeled as the Beatniks. Within this crew, alongside Burroughs, was fellow writer Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s most publicized text, On the Road, has been saluted as the quintessential novel of the 1950s and is beneficial in the fact that it conveys something that the aforementioned historical statistics cannot, emotion.
During World War II, the soldiers overseas were exposed to a much different world—a world where racial segregation was not the norm. This upside-down world abroad had an astounding effect on the black soldiers who returned home after the war to the segregated society they had left behind. This effect, the growth in NAACP membership, and the development of a southern black middle class helped to motivate African Americans to demand a dramatic change that would put an end to their oppression. Thus, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s emerged, and blacks were determined to revolutionize American society. The two historians, Howard Zinn and Alan Brinkley, focused on this movement in their book’s A People’s History of the United States
Now the dominant culture surrounding 1960s Britain was formulated through a post-world war climate. Adults in this era held factory jobs, remained relatively poor, and made up primarily of the working class. This is where the issues for youth ensued