First published 2009
Fred Kaplan challenges the standard narrative that places the 1960s as America's decade of transformation. He contends that 1959 served as the true catalyst for the massive cultural, political, and scientific changes that defined modern America. That pivotal year witnessed pop culture's explosion through artists like Jasper Johns, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, and Miles Davis. Court decisions freed previously censored books while Civil Rights laws and protests expanded political participation. The birth control pill initiated sexual and feminist revolutions. America committed to the Vietnam War and adopted new diplomatic strategies with superpowers. The microchip's invention and the Space Race reimagined the frontier myth for a technological age. Kaplan presents 1959 as the overlooked foundation that set contemporary America in motion, drawing connections between that transformative year and current times.
Genres: history, 20th-century, american, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: revisionist-history, social-commentary
Setting: America, Vietnam
Period: 1959, 1960s
347 pages · ebook · John Wiley & Sons