by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 20, 2008   Last Updated: February 21, 2008

David Halberstam's "The Fifties" is a massive book - nearly 800 pages - that attempts to explain what exactly happened in the 1950s. He includes short biographical sketches of the players behind significant changes, woven together into concise history lessons.

Halberstam manages to hit many highlights of the decade. The book opens with stories about J. Robert Oppenheimer, "the father of the atomic bomb" (who worked on the Manhattan Project ), seguing into the development of the hydrogen bomb, the McCarthy era, and the Korean war. At times Halberstam's stories are surprisingly poignant, like his descriptions of the behind-the-scenes conversations that led to the historic "Brown v. Board of Education" decision being unanimous. Other anecdotes are just refreshingly trivial - like the history of struggling female author of eventually created the best-seller "Peyton Place."

Halberstam casts a wide net, assessing not just historic and political trends, but also changes in America's culture. He represents the emerging conservative middle class life with a profile of the corporate culture at General Motors, and includes a quick assessment of William J. Levitt and the rise of the prototypical suburb, Levittown. But he also doesn't neglect the seeds of change, visiting the scientists behind the development of the birth control pill, the Kinsey report, and the rise of Playboy.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author was 59 years old when he revisited the era where he'd spent his early 20s. It's an affectionate look at the height of "America's century," but also an attempt to grapple with what social forces were already in place, and what changes were soon to come. If this book has a weakness, it's that there isn't a unifying theme. Halberstam's previous books had a tighter focus - for example, "The Best and the Brightest," with its focus on the Kennedy administration. The chapters are simply numbered, not broken into meaningful sections, and the book can sometimes feel like a hodgepodge moments, connected mostly by the fact that they occurred in the same decade.

But Halberstam writes clear and compelling prose, and it's always a joy to see a good journalist in action. If nothing else the book offers a crash course in American history, expertly combining both excitement and thoughtfulness while capturing the decade's high stakes. For example, Halberstam selected just the right anecdote to close his chapter on the first atomic weapons.

"Einstein answered glumly that he had no idea what kind of weapons would be used in the Third World War, but he could assure the questioner that the war after that would be fought with stones."

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