Saturday, September 14, 2019

The Myth

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Every revolution has its myths. One of the myths dearest to the counterculture is that America in the 1950s was a sterile, soulless society, obsessed with money, stunted emotionally, negligible culturally and intellectually, brutal and hamfisted in its politics and social policy. Never mind that, when it came to cultural and intellectual achievement, America in the 1950s looks like fifth-century Athens in comparison with what came afterward.

- Roger Kimball


[Photo by Court Prather at Unsplash]

2 comments:

Steve Layman said...

Something like seven million men served overseas in the Second World War. My father, who spent three years in North Africa, Sicily, France and Belgium, would never talk about his experience. I think he was fairly typical. Something you never read much about is the impact of what we now call PTSD on a generation of men. "Stunted emotionally" - how could we expect it to be different? Regardless, what his generation accomplished over their life times is truly impressive. S

Michael Wade said...

Steve,

Excellent point.

And if you'd gone through what they'd experienced, the idea of living a quiet life would be pretty appealing.

Michael