1957-1965 (or 1963)

[Merlot Tbird]

New to the forum, but a book I would recommend about the time period from the end of WWII to 1964 is "Populuxe" by Thomas Hine - ISBN 978-1-58567-910-2

Great history and view points along with some great pictures.

 

[Lincsong]

Who were the "damned _______! " of the 30s and 40s?
There must have been a young, political, musical, etc. minority with no economic or political influence we can blame the ills of society on.

Vegetarians???? [huh]

 

[Tiller]

Styles have certainly changed, but could you explain which morals you're speaking of?

IMO all you have to do is look at the "heroes" in the pop culture of the time, compared to now. Westerns, film noir, and sport movies were the films of the day. Hero's were hero's back then. Post modernism didn't exist, and stories didn't need to be in all greys, and even the bad guys you sympathize with ended up in prison. Most stories worked on a "karma" angel (even before the idea of karma became popular in the west), the just got their reward, evil was punished.

Today we have reality TV. Our "heroes" are only defined as such because they are the protagonist of the story, not because of their actions, or the ideals they uphold/represent.

Were their problems in the past? Of course. Human nature hasn't changed much. But the ideals that people attempted to convey in the myths of that age are dramatically different then today, and there are lot of us that miss John Wayne.

In my opinion that is the morality that has changed. Some would say we are more liberated today, but I ask you would Gunsmoke have been any better if Marshal Dillon had been shown to consummate with Miss Kitty? Or did the show as it was somehow mean more, because they didn't?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[quote="Skeet" McD]believe me, there was PLENTY to be worried about (and unhappy about) in that time: I have very strong memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis, living 30 miles outside of NY City...I remember all the concentric circles spreading outward, and knowing that, if worst came to worst, the canned goods my mother was so diligently stocking below our cellar stairs (many of them still there, 45 years later) would be....not much help. Yes, I remember "duck and cover" and remember thinking (in 2nd grade, ducking and covering in the basement corridors of our 1901 school building): well, this won't be much help....[/quote]

A now-forgotten feature that literally dotted the Cold War landscape in those years were the Nike surface-to-air missile batteries that were located outside of major cities ready to shoot down the Russian bombers that were sure to come.