An "exciting and enlightening revisionist history" (Walter
Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author) that upends the
myth of the 1950s as a decade of conformity and celebrates a few
solitary, brave, and stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical
gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements,
from historian James R. Gaines. An "enchanting, beautifully written
book about heroes and the dark times to which they refused to
surrender" (Todd Gitlin, bestselling author of The Sixties). In a
series of character portraits, The Fifties invokes the accidental
radicals-people motivated not by politics but by their own most
intimate conflicts-who sparked movements for change in their time
and our own. Among many others, we meet legal pathfinder Pauli
Murray, who was tortured by both her mixed-race heritage and her
"in between" sexuality. Through years of hard work and
self-examination, she turned her demons into historic victories.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg credited her for the argument that made sex
discrimination unconstitutional, but that was only one of her gifts
to the 21st-century feminism. We meet Harry Hay, who dreamed of a
national gay rights movement as early as the mid-1940s, a time when
the US, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany viewed gay people as
subversives and mentally ill. And in perhaps the book's unlikeliest
pairing, we hear the prophetic voices of Silent Spring's Rachel
Carson and MIT's preeminent mathematician, Norbert Wiener, who from
their very different perspectives-she is in the living world, he in
the theoretical one-converged on the then-heretical idea that our
mastery over the natural world carried the potential for disaster.
Their legacy is the environmental movement. The Fifties is an
"inspiration...[and] a reminder of the hard work and personal
sacrifice that went into fighting for the constitutional rights of
gay people, Blacks, and women, as well as for environmental
protection" (The Washington Post). The book carries the powerful
message that change begins not in mass movements and new
legislation but in the lives of the decentered, often lonely
individuals, who learn to fight for change in a daily struggle with
themselves.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
