The 1950s Books
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British writer Brendon brings a both sympathy and distance to his biography. He recognizes the paradoxes of Eisenhower's life and of the time in which he lived. His book is a balanced biography of a complex man.
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The long poem "Howl" established the Beat movement as the alternative to the white-bread '50s. "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness," Ginsberg begins, and goes off on an extended rant against the current order, and in favor of a passionate approach to life. The poem gave a voice to the outsiders of the day and influenced the counterculture that would emerge in the '60s.
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Okay, it's more than 700 pages long, but Halberstam's journalistic writing style will take you on a fascinating and always lively tour of the decade, from Marilyn Monroe to Mohammed Mossadegh, and from hula hoops to hydrogen bombs.
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Salinger's well-known novel embodied much of the alienation of the '50s in his character Holden Caufield. Its enduring popularity has shaped later readers' view of that decade.