The eighth volume written in one of the great ongoing works of American cultural history--Kevin Starr's monumental Americans and the California Dream series A narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose, Kevin Starr's acclaimed multi-volume Americans and the California Dream is an unparalleled work of cultural history. In this volume, Starr covers the crucial postwar period--1950 to 1963--when the California we know today first burst into prominence.Starr brilliantly illuminates the dominant economic, social, and cultural forces in California in these pivotal years. In a powerful blend of telling events, colorful personalities, and insightful analyses, Starr examines such issuesas the overnight creation of the postwar California suburb, the rise of Los Angeles as Super City, the reluctant emergence of San Diego as one of the largest cities in the nation, and the decline of political centrism. He explores the Silent Generation and theemergent Boomer youth cult, the Beats and the Hollywood "Rat Pack," the pervasive influence of Zen Buddhism and other Asian traditions in art and design, the rise of the University of California and the emergence of California itselfas a utopia of higher education, the cooling of West Coast jazz,freeway and water projects of heroic magnitude, outdoor life and the beginnings of the environmental movement. More broadly, he shows how California not only became the most populous state in the Union, but in fact evolved into a mega-state en route to becoming the global commonwealth it is today.Golden Dreams transcends its stated subject to offer a wealth of insight intothe growth of the Sun Belt and the West and indeed the dramatic transformation of America itself in these pivotal years following the Second World War.Praise for Americans and the California Dream:"Monumental." --The Atlantic"Conceived in dazzling ambition and masterfully executed. It is, in sum, an achievement made even more remarkable by the fact that it is wonderfully readable." -- Los Angeles Times "An engaging, dazzling account of the emerging American Century." --San Francisco Chronicle Preface Part I: Suburban Assumptions Ch 1: San Fernando: Homes and Happiness in Residential SubdivisionsCh 2: Designs for the Good Life: Modernism, Tiki, RanchPart II: Urban PerspectivesCh 3: Urban Expectations: San Diego Leverages Itself into Big-City StatusCh 4: Baghdad by the Bay: Herb Caen's San FranciscoCh 5: The Cardinal, the Chief, Walter O'Malley, and Buff Chandler: Redefiningthe City of AngelsCh 6: Downsides and Dividends: Los Angeles as SupercityPart III: Politics and Public WorksCh 7: Warren, Nixon, Knight, and Knowland: The Demise of Republican CentrismCh 8: Cold War Campus: The University of California and Other Secret PlacesCh 9: Freeways to the Future: An Epic Construction on Behalf of the AutomobileCh 10: Mare Nostrum: The State Water ProjectPart IV: Art and LifeCh 11: Provincials, Baghdader, and Beats: Literary San Francisco in the 1950sCh 12: Big Sur: The Search for Alternative ValueCh 13: The Silent Generation: Coming of Age on the Coast of DreamsCh 14: Brubeck! Jazz Goes to CollegePart Five: Dissenting OpinionsCh 15: Largest State in the Nation: A Rebellion against Growth and the Destruction of the EnvironmentCh 16: People of Color: The Beginning of the End for Jim Crow CaliforniaCh 17: Cool, Not Cool: Headlines and TransitionsNotesBibliographic Essay
- ISBN: 978-0-19-983249-1
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Rústica
- Páginas: 576
- Fecha Publicación: 29/09/2011
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés