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Are you ready for another month of the Decades Reading Challenge? During May, we’ll be reading books set in the 1950s.
You are reading: Books set in the 1950s
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You can read all about the challenge, download your free printable reading log, and find book lists from other decades here.
As a reminder, you can choose any book you like that is set in the decade. To get you started, we’ve compiled a great list of books about the Fifties. These include historical fiction novels set around the globe, books about quintessential American life in the 1950s, stories about the divergent experiences of black and white Americas in the middle of the century and the growing racial tensions, and memoirs and non-fiction reads about the events and people of the day.
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With the Great Depression a mere memory and the post-World War II economy strong, the 1950s ushered in a time of rapid change in the United States. American families were growing rapidly, giving rise to the baby boomer generation. these families began flocking to new suburbs in search of an idyllic, “normal” life amid growing fears of the cold war-triggered atomic bomb. As they grew older, baby boomers would be at the forefront of social change, including being highly influential in the civil rights movement and conflict in Vietnam, which began in the 1950s.
great world events of the 1950s
- the us birth rate. uu. increased during the 1950s, with the baby boom peaking in 1957.
- the korean war began when north korea invaded korea South in June 1950.
- Between 1950 and 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy led a campaign against suspected communists, which became known as Mccarthyism. Many of the defendants lost their jobs or were blacklisted during the red scare, although it turned out that most were not from the communist party.
- isabel ii became the queen of england after the death of her father, and her coronation was held a year later, in 1953.
- in 1954, the supreme court ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional public in a unanimous decision in the landmark case of brown v. board of education. despite the ruling, some southern states refused to comply.
- the vietnam war began in november 1955 and lasted two decades.
- the disneyland theme park opened in california in 1955, the same year when “The Mickey Mouse Club” premiered on television.
- In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama after courageously refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This was one of many actions that sparked the civil rights movement.
- After tests on ice cells in the early 1950s, the first polio vaccine became available to the public in 1955.
- American actress grace kelly married prince rainier of monaco in 1956.
- in 1957, nine African-American students enrolled at little rock central high school. They were met with protests and resistance, and were eventually escorted to the school by federal military troops under President Eisenhower.
- The Soviets launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to launch the space age, in 1957. The following year, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was formed.
- in 1959, the cuban revolution ended and fidel castro came to power, creating the first communist nation in the west.
- alaska and hawaii were admitted as the 49th and 50th states in states united.
books set in the 1950s
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