1957: The Year That Launched the American Future

by Eric Burns

Overview

In 1957, America turned its back on its earlier self and jumped headlong into the nation it has become today. From Sputnik and the beginning of the space race to Little Richard and the underappreciated influence of rock n’ roll in bringing blacks and whites closer together, to President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway Act, which forever changed the landscape, 1957 represents the year when all of the energy and anxiety that had followed the end of World War II exploded. In compelling stories from politics, pop culture, business, and the media, Eric Burns captures the excitement of a headspinning year and the lingering fallout that continues to resonate seven decades later. For baby boomers seeking to relive their formative years or readers seeking a window into midcentury America, 1957 provides a highly readable tour through one of the most fascinating years in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538139950
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/01/2020
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Eric Burns is a uniquely varied man of letters. His first play won the Eudora Welty Emerging Playwrights Completion. As an NBC News correspondent, in addition to being an Emmy winner, he was named one of the best writers in the history of television news. And as an author, he has twice won the American Library Association's "Best of the Best" award (for The Spirits of American: A Social History of Alcohol in 2004, and The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco in 2007). He has also written 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar, chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best non-fiction books of 2015. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Sputnik

Part One
Chapter One: The Mad Bomber
Chapter Two: The Committee
Chapter Three: From Apalachin to Havana

Part Two
Chapter Four: Highways to Everywhere
Chapter Five: The Design of An Era
Chapter Six: The Vagina in the Grille
Chapter Seven: Highways to Nowhere

Part Three
Chapter Eight: Whites Against Blacks
Chapter Nine: Whites With Blacks

Part Four
Chapter Ten: Moving Stories
Chapter Eleven: The Man Who Believed in God
Chapter Twelve: The Woman Who Believed in Man
Chapter Thirteen: Gang Wars on Broadway
Chapter Fourteen: The Youngest Monster

Part Five
Chapter Fifteen: The Successes of Failure
Chapter Sixteen: Muttnik
Chapter Seventeen: Kaputnik

Epilogue: The Return of the Preacher Man

Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

A densely written, fact-packed account of a pivotal period in U.S. history.

Washington Independent Review of Books

In 1957: The Year That Launched the American Future, a fascinating, fast-paced chronicle manifested by articulately rendered, thought-provocative chapter-length essays, author and journalist Eric Burns reminds us of what a pivotal year that proved to be, not only by kindling that first contest to dominate space, but in multiple other arenas of the social, political, and cultural, much that is only apparent in retrospect.

Regarp Book Blog

4.5/5 Stars. 1957 offers a candid view of an eventful year in a decade of ups and downs. From mad bombers to mad hatters, the book maintains a consistency of captivating chapters. .. The past is reanimated with a passionate fervor for the masses to enjoy.

Manhattan Book Review

.. . the clear message of [1957] is that the center wasn’t holding. The Western escapism on TV (Gunsmoke) and re-litigation of World War II glories in theaters (The Bridge on the River Kwai) belied emerging ideological fault lines that would widen in the coming decades.Ingeniously, Burns connects chapters about Billy Graham’s 97-day run at New York stadiums with the publication of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, twin milestones for evangelicals and libertarians.. .. Burns’s casual look beneath the surface reveals a host of disintegrations and delayed reckonings, ones that have lasted to this day.

AIR MAIL

Eric Burns’ fast-paced cultural history spotlights 1957 – a pivotal year in Eisenhower’s America. Burns connects the dots to show how Sputnik, the Little Rock Nine, the McClellan Committee, Jack Kerouac, Billy Graham, Walter O’Malley, West Side Story, the ‘57 Chevy, rock & roll, and more helped shape modern America.

Richard Aquila