1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan chronicles the changes nascent in American culture in the year before the turbulent 1960’s arrived.
“1959 was the year when the shock waves of the new ripped the seams of daily life, when humanity stepped into the cosmos and also commandeered the conception of human life, when the world shrank but the knowledge needed to thrive in it expanded exponentially, when outsiders became insiders, when categories were crossed and taboos were trampled, when everything was changing and everyone knew it – when the world as we now know it began to take form.” (1)
There are two main reasons for the abruptness of the change that began in 1959:
“It was this twin precipice – the prospect of infinite possibilities and instant annihilation, both teetering on the edge of a new decade – that gave 1959 its distinctive swoon and ignited its creative energy.” (4)
It is no coincidence that 1959 was released in 2009. Kaplan points out parallels between 1959 and today, which leads the reader to ask: Is it possible that we are in a year that everything is changing as well?
This is an interesting book that covers a variety of topics:
- literature,
- music,
- the space race,
- obscenity laws, etc.
Regarding obscenity laws, consider this: in 1959, the New York Board of Regents would not allow a French film (Lady Chatterly’s Lover) to be shown in the U.S. because “its ‘theme’ is the presentation of adultery as a desirable, acceptable and proper pattern of behavior” (53). Wow. How far we have come!
Most fascinating for me was the story of the computer microchip. In 1959, few realized the significance of this invention. At a trade show that year, The New York Times focused most of its coverage on a system created by Westinghouse that would allow someone to drive from coast to coast without ever putting their hands on a steering wheel. Westinghouse’s idea never went anywhere. The barely-covered microchip changed the world. You never know what is truly significant.
1959 is an interesting book, but it is ultimately unsatisfying. Kaplan sees most of the changes of the 1960’s as positive. He obviously anticipates the 1960’s as a decade of liberation.
Kaplan writes positively of Margaret Sanger and the birth control pill, never pointing out the underlying racism of Sanger and Planned Parenthood’s origins. He sees birth control as liberating from women, but never considers the way “sex without consequences” puts women in another set of chains – that of having to suffer consequences by themselves.
Although there are some interesting stories in 1959, Kaplan’s take on this landmark year is too one-sided for me. I wish he had taken in the complexities of the time, weighing its positive and negative aspects.
