Good evening.

Tonight, I want to share one of my very favorite authors with you, David Halberstam, and his book, The Fifties.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

David Halberstam is a longtime hero of mine.

And this began with his book October 1964, which provided a wonderful summary of that pivotal year utilizing the 1964 World Series between the New York Yankees and my favorite team, the Saint Louis Cardinals.

Halberstam illustrated the watershed significance of 1964, using the example of the Cardinals who won that World Series in seven games, embracing the use of minority players such as Bill White, Julián Javier and Bob Gibson.

While the Yankees ignored the realities of talent and skill and stayed with a mostly white team.

We could do a whole show on Halberstam and his life and career.

Such an interesting and talented fellow.

Halberstam, who died in 2007 at the age of 73, was an American writer, journalist and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the civil rights movement, business, media, American culture, the Korean War and sports journalism.

He won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1964.

He was killed in a car crash while doing research for a book on the 1958 NFL championship game.

The fifties was one of those books I rediscovered on my library shelves.

My book was copyrighted in 1993, and I had simply put it on the shelf with the thought that I would read it.

One of these days.

Well, that day came, and I'm so glad that it did.

This book was so much fun, and I learned so much about the decade that included my years three through 12 in 46 chapters and 733 pages.

Halberstam discusses the important people and events of the fifties as he entertains, charms, informs and educates the reader.

As you would anticipate, a book about the fifties includes discussion about Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, the atomic bomb.

Joseph McCarthy, Little Rock, Central High School.

The Kinsey Report.

The Supreme Court's Decision in Brown v Board.

The Korean War.

The Beat Generation, General Douglas MacArthur and the Cold War.

But there is so much more.

Halberstam tells the story of the beginning of the Holiday Inn motel chain, the first Holiday Inn, and opened in August of 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee.

The chain quickly grew to 1500 motels, and at one point it was building a new and every two and a half days and was getting as many as 10,000 requests a year for franchises.

As Halberstam writes, Wilson knew the people requesting franchises were people just like himself, people who had probably not been to college, but who believed in themselves and saw this as their chance.

He liked to say, to win a piece of the American dream.

Halberstam also writes about the start of McDonald's in California.

Of course.

Halberstam speaks to the growing influence of television in the fifties.

He writes, By the mid fifties, television portrayed a wonderfully antiseptic world of idealized homes in an idealized and flawed America.

There were no economic crisis, no class divisions or resentments, no ethnic tensions.

Few, if any, hyphenated Americans, few if any minority characters.

Do you remember the Nelsons?

The Andersons, the Cleavers, the Ricardos?

Tonight's book has been the Fifties by David Halberstam.

Whether you want to learn about an important epoch in American history, or if you simply wish to refresh your memories, I enthusiastically recommend this book to you.

It is still available on Amazon.

You can likely find it at your local library or if you like to shop for bargains at U.S. bookstores.

This book is worth the endeavor.

Goodnight and see you next time.