1959: The Year Everything Changed

[Allen Wiener]

Just read 1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan for our local history book club. An interesting take on what the author portrays as a pivotal year in social and political changes in the U.S. He makes a pretty persuasive case, pointing out innovations in everything from computer technology to jazz structure. How much you like or get out of it will depend on your interest in some of these topics. Kaplan is clearly a jazz devotee and gets pretty down in the weeds in his discussion of innovators like Davis, Parker and Coltrane, including chord structure, etc., which went over my head. He also has a couple of chapters of literary criticism, particularly regarding Mailer, which I found boring; I found myself often skimming through some of this. His chapters on politics, the rise of the civil rights movement and the breaking down of taboos, including censorship, are more compelling. His discussion of the Cold War machinations of Ike and Khrushchev are excellent, especially the non-existent missile "gap" and the shooting down of Powers' U2, which resulted in Ike being embarrassed when he denied the spying and had to admit he was lying after learning that Powers had not killed himself, as ordered, and had blabbed to the Russians. Kaplan closes with an excellent chapter on the transition from the Eisenhower mindset to the advent of JFK. One person at the book club suggested that this final chapter is really the book in microcosm.

The "1959" title is something of a gimmick as the author discusses events that led up to that year, as well as events that followed, in some detail.

You can check it out here: tinyurl.com/2dzvsbr

I'm now reading a bio of Danton, the French Revolution leader; about 100 pages in and finding it very interesting, even amusing, and quick reading (The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, A Life by David Lawday; tinyurl.com/2dz9h52).

Allen

[sloanrodgers]

Sounds like a good one. I served in Germany the last two years of The Cold War, following my father and his two
brothers. I also had an aunt who served in the air farce as a cartographer. She supposedly flew over the U.S.S.R.
in a U2 or some spy plane although I don't know if it's true as she told some tales. She gave us two cool artifacts.
They're two silk documents written in Russian and English with the U.S.S.R. and American flags. They basically say:
"I'm an Amerikaner, don't shoot me."

[Allen Wiener]

That sounds like 1959, and the Cold War, to me!

[sloanrodgers]

Yup, They're folded a few times inside a plastic sleeve with the flags and words showing. They were worn around the neck
with a thin rope or twine. Supposedly, if you survived the crash you were required to show the document. That committing
suicide business must have come later, but I don't know much about this spy plane stuff.