Another Part of the Fifties by Paul A. Carter reassesses the 1950s from an 80s perspective. Carter establishes the fifties as a decade worthy of another look because this period has traditionally been slighted. The "anti intellectual" (x) era is of particular interest to the author because the early part of the decade coincided with his graduate school years, and his first teaching appointment occurred during the remainder. He rejects the popular view among academicians that the Eisenhower years were an intellectual vacuum, preferring to consider them a vital decade, less "shallow" (xii), and possessing more integrity than the eighties. Even though he acknowledges that his study is subjective, it is valid both as memoir and history.
In the author's words, Another Part of the Fifties is a kind of "overall synoptic work" (ix) in the manner of the American historians Commager (1950), Gabriel (second edition, 1956), or Persons (1958). It contains two parts, one devoted to the political framework of the fifties and the other to intellectual life. In his overview, Carter frequently takes a defensive stance in an attempt to vindicate a decade thought to be naive and moralistic. In the preface to the book, Carter decries the "counter moralizing" of the sixties (xi), and he says that "far from being anti intellectual, Americans in the fifties would never dream of closing down a university" (xi).
Instead of evading a personal judgment of the fifties, Carter welcomes the opportunity to present his teacher historian's view of this prelude to the sixties. He reinforces his argument that he is well qualified to recount the fifties because he has inhabited the heartland as well as New York City. The author further adds that the juxtaposition of these two worlds has exposed him to a representative cross section of America. His colleagues and friends both in Montana and New York City have "decisively shaped" his interpretation of the dec...