Tag: 1950s

Gilbert, Edmund Scientific, and the Post-War Flowering of American Techno-Industrial Virtuosity

Guest Post by Fred Reed

It was 1953 in the white newly prosperous suburbs of Arlington, Virginia, just outside the Yankee Capital. I was eight, having been born, like so many of my small compatriots, nine months and fifteen minutes after our fathers got home from the war. These men, my father anyway, had spent years in the Pacific, being torpedoed at and watching Hellcat fighters screaming off wooden decks, and seeing ships sink. What they wanted now was lawn mowers, lawns, children, and a life as boring as possible. They got them.

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WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT MEETS FYRE FESTIVAL

“When a condition or a problem becomes too great, humans have the protection of not thinking about it. But it goes inward and minces up with a lot of other things already there and what comes out is discontent and uneasiness, guilt and a compulsion to get something–anything–before it is all gone.” ― John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Image result for winter of our discontent Image result for fyre festival

Sometimes I wonder about strange coincidences. In an email exchange with Marc (Hardscrabble Farmer) in the Fall, he mentioned he had begun reading Steinbeck’s Winter of Our Discontent and planned to write an article about it. Coincidentally, I had just bought a used copy of the same novel at Hooked on Books in Wildwood. I didn’t plan on buying it, but I’ve read most of Steinbeck’s brilliant novels and felt compelled by the title and our national state of discontent to select it from among the thousands of books in the store.

Marc had posted his Steinbeck-esque article in December, but I didn’t read it until I had finished the novel. Marc’s perspective on the value of money and his diametrically opposite path from Ethan Hawley, the discontented anti-hero of Steinbeck’s final novel, was enlightening and thought provoking. I’m sure it impacted my consciousness as I wrote this article.

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38 Pictures That Show The Decline Of America Since The 1950s

Via Return of Kings

Although not so much now, I used to enjoy watching films from the past as a way of traveling through time to watch people and culture from different eras. And of all the decades, America in the 1950s always struck me as a time of stability, decency, and optimism. It is also quite refreshing to watch feminine and classy women who were around just few generations ago.

Of course, the reality wasn’t as rosy as what is shown in the films. As with all other decades, America faced number of problems with the issue of race and the Cold War being notable examples. That said, I don’t think any era was ever “perfect” or great for everyone and I don’t think there ever will be such thing.

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