1957, Eric Burns
1957, Eric Burns
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1957
The Year That Launched the American Future

Author: Eric Burns

Narrator: L.J. Ganser

Unabridged: 11 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/08/2020

Synopsis

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 listeners seeking a window into midcentury America, 1957 provides a must-listen tour through one of the most fascinating years in American history.

About Eric Burns

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Chris

When you read a book like this, you don't really expect it to explain how the year in question "launched the American future." You expect some nuggets about the year that was, hopefully with some attempts to explain the event's importance to the future. And for the most part Burns delievers on this......more

Goodreads review by Ralphz

What an amazing year. Sputnik. "On The Road." Billy Graham. Chevy Bel Air. The Little Rock Nine. "West Side Story." The soon-to-be Los Angeles Dodgers. This is a compendium of the year and how its events shaped the rest of the American Century. Many more events are covered, like Little Richard tempo......more

Goodreads review by Joyce

I think I would label this as creative nonfiction instead of history because I find his premise hard to buy. But my college friends, all of us born in 1957, thought we should give this a whirl, so I did.......more

Goodreads review by Aloysius

A look at one year in the late 1950s America, and some of the big events and cultural themes that defined that time.......more

Goodreads review by Heather G

Wow! Eric Burns can paint a picture! I was especially impressed with how he tied it all together, using both widely known and obscure facts!......more

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