Ottawa University

Annotated Bibliography
02/19/2016

Jacob Fulps
Research and t

Twelve sources for Annotated Bibliography

The questions that are being answered:

1) What events and people in the 1950s helped shape modern day society?
2) Why was the 1950s one of the most important decades in American history?
3) How did the 1950s change the perception of the United States?

1. A look back at the world of the 1950s & 1960s. (2008).

Journal of Property Management, 73(3).
This article highlights some of the main events that took place in the 1950s and
1960s. It uses pictures and statistics to demonstrate the changes taking place, and the
major events happening. It also breaks down the average population of the 50s, along
with the unemployment number, car sales, and even the cost of a loaf of break.
2. Becker, C. (2008). It's the pictures that got small:
Hollywood film stars on 1950s television. Middletown,
Conn.: Wesleyan University Press
This book really dives deep into the impact of the Television, and the stars it brought. It
also discusses the differences in TV stars back then, and how many of them were quite
average. It talks about how this gives the feeling that anyone could make it on TV, which
in fact led to an even greater obsession of the television.

3. Breines, W. (n.d.). The 1950s: Gender and Some Social

Science. Sociological Inquiry, 69-92.

This article discusses gender roles in the 1950s. It breaks down how
women were finally being allowed in the work force, but also how married
womens roles change dramatically. Married women were to be at home, raising
the children and cleaning the home. It also highlights the impact the Femine
Mystique had on women and the sex roles between both men and women during
this time. It was an interesting article, with a lot of information.
4.Bodnar, J. (2012). Unruly Adults: Social Change and Mass
Culture in the 1950s. 26(4).
This article highlights the changing of social norms in American culture during
the time. It also goes into detail as why its changing, the effects of postwar America, and
the change in perceptions of Sex. One of my favorite articles so far, it really breaks down
the impact of Alfred Kinsey as well.
5. Dudziak, M. (2000). Cold War civil rights: Race and the image of
American democracy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
This book highlights some of the major impacts the Cold War had. The main theme
seems to be the fight for civil rights, and how they played a toll in the War. It also briefly
highlights the impact civil right protesters made and how we see it today.
6. Endicott, S. (1999). The United States and Biological Warfare:
Secrets from the early Cold War and Korean War.
This article is one of the most interesting of all. It talks about the use of
biological warfare, how long it has been going on, and the origin of it. It talks about
recently released documents that prove that not only did the government lie to the

American public, but to congress as well. There were many things that were hidden from
the public, and there still is today.
7. Halberstam, D. (1996). The fifties (Collector's ed.). Norwalk:
The Easton Press.
This book covers just about every major topic of the 1950s. It sheds light
into the person General Macarthur was, how his fame got to his head, and the
uneasiness of the Cold War. It also talks at length about the conversations between
Khrushchev and President Eisenhower. Also talks about how the 1950s played a
major role in shaping what this country looks like today, and what it would look
like if events were handled differently.
8. Klarman, M. (2004). From Jim Crow to civil rights the
Supreme Court and the struggle for racial equality. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
This book discusses many important aspects of the Brown V Board
decision. Some of these aspects include how the decision allowed some to come
to power, such as George Wallace and Ross Barnett. It also gives the notion of
how all of the factors that went into the ruling helped shape current day American
politics, and attitudes toward race.
9. . McCarthy, A. (2013). The citizen machine: Governing by
television in 1950s America. New York: New York University Press.
This book breaks down the impact of the TV not only in the 1950s, but
the impact it had on todays society. It also highlights the television and the
political culture just after World War II. It also touches base on how to public felt
when Blacks were allowed on TV, and talks slightly about the Brown V. Board
decision and its impact.

10. . Patterson, J. (2001). Brown v. Board of Education a civil

rights milestone and its troubled legacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
This book looks at not just the decision itself to desegragate, but what
went into it, and how long it really took for change to occur. It breaks down the
Brown V. Boards legacy, and talks about Eisenhowers role. Many white
southerns respected Ike, so if he was for the Brown decision, they would follow
suit.
11. Repo, J. (2013). The Biopolitical Birth of Gender: Social
Control, Hermaphroditism, and the New Sexual Apparatus. Alternatives:
Global, Local, Political, 228-244.
While every article has an abstract, I have not found one that better
describes the intent of the article than this one. This article argues that gender
was invented in the 1950s as a new sexual apparatus of bio power. Through a
reading of mid-century sexological studies against the background of structural
functionalist and behaviorist theories of social order, it shows how gender was
born in the clinic to discipline the reproduction of life in new ways. The truth of
sex was no longer found in the genitals or mind, but in the contingent cognitive
processes of a behavioral control system.
12. Winsboro, I., & Epple, M. (2009). Religion, Culture, and
the Cold War: Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and America's Anti-Communist
Crusade of the 1950s. Historian, 209-233.
This article talks a lot about America during the Cold War and its endless
pursuit of all things/people communist. It also explores how religion plays a role
on this era, and how that culture has shaped modern day America. Finally, it
shows how the television could be used to help get view points across, and the
power it had, and still has today.

The books generally are more helpful because they are well rounded on a
series of topics. However, some of the articles taught me things I have never
known before. All of these sources were peer reviewed and well respected.