The Victory Album

by Beidler, Philip D.

• ISBN13: 9780817316846
• ISBN10: 0817316841
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-09
• Publisher: Univ of Alabama Pr

Summary

A vivid and penetrating history, personal and social, of growing up in post-1945 America A pervasive feeling at the end of World War II, notes Philip D. Beidler, was that Americans had "inherited the earth" and could look forward to a kind of golden age, the "Good Life after the Good War." But this good lifefor all its genuine possibilitieswas only accessible to some and was countered by racial tensions, the fear of communism and nuclear war, gender inequalities, and a rising consumer culture, among other problems and anxieties. In these essaysa combination of personal remembrance and broad-stroke cultural historyBeidler addresses the national blindness toward the Holocaust and a rising China, the canker of McCarthyism, an ascendant culture of hard smoking and heavy drinking, the worship of cars and film idols, and the chronic fear of an always-possible nuclear apocalypse. In lively, driving prose, he recalls veiled episodes in the history of the Korean War, the Civil Rights movement, and the struggle for women's liberation. On these subjects and many others, Beidler draws from his own experience and a penetrating grasp of American social history. Together, they offer deep, pointed, and comprehensive perspectives on iconic moments in American history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: After the Good War	p. 1
Reds	p. 13
A Credit to Their Race	p. 32
China Magic	p. 49
A Tale of Two Task Forces	p. 64
How the Holocaust Didn't Become Current Events	p. 79
The War of the Generals for the Presidency	p. 99
"Is This All?"	p. 115
Name Your Poison	p. 137
Mastering the Curriculum	p. 150
The Fifty-fives	p. 163
The End of the World	p. 172
I Was a 1950s Teenage Media Junkie	p. 184
Remembering On the Beach	p. 206
America the Ecumenical	p. 221
It Wasn't All Elvis	p. 234
Let's Play DienBienPhu	p. 248
Conclusion: Good-bye to All That	p. 262
Index	p. 275
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