American Culture in the 1950s by Martin Halliwell
This book provides a stimulating account of the dominant cultural forms of 1950s America: fiction and poetry; theatre and performance; film and television; music and radio; and the visual arts.
The 1950s has been transformed in the scholarly literature from a "tranquillized" decade to an almost "tumultuous" one, and therefore is badly in need of a restorative balanceThis is the achievement of Martin Halliwell's superb account of a postwar period that, for all of its familiarity, remains tantalizingly elusive. By showing the persistence of the varieties of cultural modernism, he advances the retrospective understanding of a decade that was not merely the lengthened shadow of the Cold War. His book is thoughtful, expansive and engaging. -- Stephen J. Whitfield, Professor of American Studies, Brandeis University, Massachusetts The author has a good command of the variety of cultural forms in the period and has planned the shape and contents of the book thoughtfully. -- Professor Lucy Maddox, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The 1950s has been transformed in the scholarly literature from a "tranquillized" decade to an almost "tumultuous" one, and therefore is badly in need of a restorative balance. This is the achievement of Martin Halliwell's superb account of a postwar period that, for all of its familiarity, remains tantalizingly elusive. By showing the persistence of the varieties of cultural modernism, he advances the retrospective understanding of a decade that was not merely the lengthened shadow of the Cold War. His book is thoughtful, expansive and engaging. The author has a good command of the variety of cultural forms in the period and has planned the shape and contents of the book thoughtfully.
Martin Halliwell is Professor of American Thought and Culture at the University of Leicester. His recent books include The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health (2022) and Transformed States: Medicine, Biotechnology, and American Culture, 1990–2020 (2025).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780748618859 |
| ISBN 10 | 0748618856 |
| Title | American Culture in the 1950s |
| Author | Martin Halliwell |
| Series | Twentieth-Century American Culture |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| Year published | 2007-03-13 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |