The Columbia History of Post-World War II America
The Columbia History of Post-World War II America

Author: Mark Christopher Carnes

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 0231121261

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Beginning with an analysis of cultural themes and ending with a discussion of evolving and expanding political and corporate institutions, The Columbia History of Post-World War II America addresses changes in America's response to the outside world; the merging of psychological states and social patterns in memorial culture, scandal culture, and consumer culture; the intersection of social practices and governmental policies; the effect of technological change on society and politics; and the intersection of changing belief systems and technological development, among other issues. Many had feared that Orwellian institutions would crush the individual in the postwar era, but a major theme of this book is the persistence of individuality and diversity. Trends toward institutional bigness and standardization have coexisted with and sometimes have given rise to a countervailing pattern of individualized expression and consumption. Today Americans are exposed to more kinds of images and music, choose from an infinite variety of products, and have a wide range of options in terms of social and sexual arrangements. In short, they enjoy more ways to express their individuality despite the ascendancy of immense global corporations, and this volume imaginatively explores every facet of this unique American experience.

Settling Down
Settling Down

Author: R. Saxe

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-12-09

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0230609279

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This book examines the lost voices of returning World War II veterans in the immediate postwar years and shows how the developing Cold War silenced or altered dissenting opinions that many vets expressed upon their return.

An Extraordinary Time
An Extraordinary Time

Author: Marc Levinson

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2016-11-08

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0465096565

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The decades after World War II were a golden age across much of the world. It was a time of economic miracles, an era when steady jobs were easy to find and families could see their living standards improving year after year. And then, around 1973, the good times vanished. The world economy slumped badly, then settled into the slow, erratic growth that had been the norm before the war. The result was an era of anxiety, uncertainty, and political extremism that we are still grappling with today. In An Extraordinary Time, acclaimed economic historian Marc Levinson describes how the end of the postwar boom reverberated throughout the global economy, bringing energy shortages, financial crises, soaring unemployment, and a gnawing sense of insecurity. Politicians, suddenly unable to deliver the prosperity of years past, railed haplessly against currency speculators, oil sheikhs, and other forces they could not control. From Sweden to Southern California, citizens grew suspicious of their newly ineffective governments and rebelled against the high taxes needed to support social welfare programs enacted when coffers were flush. Almost everywhere, the pendulum swung to the right, bringing politicians like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to power. But their promise that deregulation, privatization, lower tax rates, and smaller government would restore economic security and robust growth proved unfounded. Although the guiding hand of the state could no longer deliver the steady economic performance the public had come to expect, free-market policies were equally unable to do so. The golden age would not come back again. A sweeping reappraisal of the last sixty years of world history, An Extraordinary Time forces us to come to terms with how little control we actually have over the economy.

Music of the Postwar Era
Music of the Postwar Era

Author: Don Tyler

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2007-11-30

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0313341923

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At the end of WWII, themes in music shifted from soldiers' experiences at war to coming home, marrying their sweethearts, and returning to civilian life. The music itself also shifted, with crooners such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra replacing the Big Bands of years past. Country music, jazz, and gospel continued to evolve, and rhythm and blues and the new rock and roll were also popular during this time. Music is not created without being influenced by the political events and societal changes of its time, and the Music of the Postwar Era is no exception. *includes combined musical charts for the years 1945-1959 *approximately 20 black and white images of the singers and musicians who represent the era's music

World War II and the Postwar Years in America [2 volumes]
World War II and the Postwar Years in America [2 volumes]

Author: William H. Young

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-09-17

Total Pages: 942

ISBN-13: 031335653X

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More than 150 articles provide a revealing look at one of the most tempestuous decades in recent American history, describing the everyday activities of Americans as they dealt first with war, and then a difficult transition to peace and prosperity. The two-volume World War II and the Postwar Years in America: A Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia contains over 175 articles describing everyday life on the American home front during World War II and the immediate postwar years. Unlike publications about this period that focus mainly on the big picture of the war and subsequent economic conditions, this encyclopedia drills down to the popular culture of the 1940s, bringing the details of the lives of ordinary men, women, and children alive. The work covers a broad range of everyday activities throughout the 1940s, including movies, radio programming, music, the birth of commercial television, advertising, art, bestsellers, and other equally intriguing topics. The decade was divided almost evenly between war (1940-1945) and peace (1946-1950), and the articles point up the continuities and differences between these two periods. Filled with evocative photographs, this unique encyclopedia will serve as an excellent resource for those seeking an overview of life in the United States during a decade that helped shape the modern world.

Postwar
Postwar

Author: Tony Judt

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-09-05

Total Pages: 1000

ISBN-13: 9780143037750

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Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize • Winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award • One of the New York Times' Ten Best Books of the Year “Impressive . . . Mr. Judt writes with enormous authority.” —The Wall Street Journal “Magisterial . . . It is, without a doubt, the most comprehensive, authoritative, and yes, readable postwar history.” —The Boston Globe Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world's most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first modern history that covers all of Europe, both east and west, drawing on research in six languages to sweep readers through thirty-four nations and sixty years of political and cultural change-all in one integrated, enthralling narrative. Both intellectually ambitious and compelling to read, thrilling in its scope and delightful in its small details, Postwar is a rare joy. Judt's book, Ill Fares the Land, republished in 2021 featuring a new preface by bestselling author of Between the World and Me and The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates.

The South and America Since World War II
The South and America Since World War II

Author: James Charles Cobb

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0195166515

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In this sweeping narrative, Cobb covers such diverse topics as "Dixiecrats," the "southern strategy," the South's domination of today's GOP, immigration, the national ascendance of southern culture and music, and the roles of women and an increasingly visible gay population in contemporary southern life. Beginning with the early stages of the civil rights struggle, Cobb discusses how the attack on Pearl Harbor set the stage for the demise of Jim Crow. He examines the NAACP's postwar assault on the South's racial system, the famous bus boycott in Montgomery, the emergence of Rev. Martin Luther King in the movement, and the dramatic protests and confrontations that finally brought profound racial changes, and two-party politics to the South.

In the Name of National Security
In the Name of National Security

Author: Robert J. Corber

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 1993-10-20

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0822382237

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In the Name of National Security exposes the ways in which the films of Alfred Hitchcock, in conjunction with liberal intellectuals and political figures of the 1950s, fostered homophobia so as to politicize issues of gender in the United States. As Corber shows, throughout the 1950s a cast of mind known as the Cold War consensus prevailed in the United States. Promoted by Cold War liberals--that is, liberals who wanted to perserve the legacies of the New Deal but also wished to separate liberalism from a Communist-dominated cultural politics--this consensus was grounded in the perceived threat that Communists, lesbians, and homosexuals posed to national security. Through an analysis of the films of Alfred Hitchcock, combined with new research on the historical context in which these films were produced, Corber shows how Cold War liberals tried to contain the increasing heterogeneity of American society by linking questions of gender and sexual identity directly to issues of national security, a strategic move that the films of Hitchcock both legitimated and at times undermined. Drawing on psychoanalytic and Marxist theory, Corber looks at such films as Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, and Psycho to show how Hitchcock manipulated viewers' attachments and identifications to foster and reinforce the relationship between homophobia and national security issues. A revisionary account of Hitchcock's major works, In the Name of National Security is also of great interest for what it reveals about the construction of political "reality" in American history.

World War II and the American Dream
World War II and the American Dream

Author: Margaret Crawford

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9780262510837

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with essays by Peter S. Reed, Robert Friedel, Margaret Crawford, Greg Hise, Joel Davidson, and Michael Sorkin Among the legacies of World War II was a massive building program on a scale that America had not seen before and has not seen since. The war effort created thousands of factories, homes, even entire cities throughout the country. Many of these structures still stand, the physical evidence of an unprecedented ability to harness the power and resources of a people. The complex legacy of this most notable period in our nation's history is discussed from a different perspective by each contributor. Peter S. Reed, Associate Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, details the rise of modern architecture during the war -- housing designs that used the latest ideas in prefabricated construction methods, lightweight materials, innovative technologies, and a corporate and institutional aesthetic that helped popularize modernism as the appropriate image of American industrial might and corporate success. Robert Friedel, Professor of History at the University of Maryland, documents the development of new materials, especially plastics, and discusses techniques for employing traditional materials in novel ways. Margaret Crawford, Chair of the History and Theory of Architecture Program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, explores the struggle of women and blacks for public housing. Greg Hise, Assistant Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Southern California, considers how the construction of large-scale residential communities near defense plants prefigured postwar suburbia. Joel Davidson, historian of the "World War II and the American Dream" exhibition, analyzes the impact of the war's building program on the postwar military-industrial complex. Finally, Michael Sorkin, architect and writer, explores the migration of certain values and aesthetics from the necessities of war to the choices of peace. Among these are images of speed, camouflage, ruin, totalization, and flight. Copublished with The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.

American Streamliner, Post-War Years
American Streamliner, Post-War Years

Author: Carl Byron

Publisher: Heimburger House Publishing Company

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780911581430

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When World War II came to an end in 1945, America was on the verge of an unprecedented economic boom that carried over to its vast rail transportation system. Railroads placed orders for new streamlined passenger trains. Passengers wanted new, fashionable trains with sleek cars and locomotives. In addition, steam was out, diesels were in. Railroads saw good times coming and they prepared well for them. This 200-page color book features 335 photographs in a 10 x 10” hardbound volume. Covers numerous name trains.