Read about why the military had such a hard time recruiting women to serve in the 1950s. Find out about the unequal treatment afforded female members of the military.

Read a brief history of rock and roll and its roots. See why this form of music shook the establishment and shattered the idea of conformity.

The decade of the 1950s was kown for conformity. There was an undercurrent of rebellion, especially among younger Americans. Read about the Beat Generation, alternative literature, rebellion in art, and treatment of those who were not...

The advent of increased television programming helped create a national popular culture. Read about the many kinds of television programs offered in the 1950s.

Read about the dangers of paranoia when exercised by people of power. The witch-hunting of the McCarthy era made rash and false accusations against supposed Communist sympathizers that affected many lives.

A brief look at American life and politics in the 1950s with an increase in consumerism and fear of the Soviet Union.

Brief illustration of the changes in U.S. domestic and foreign policy that occurred following WWII.

A very brief overview of the inception of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, its successes and failures into the 1960s, and a prediction of despair in the 1970s.

This essay from The Oxford Companion to American Military History goes into the causes of the Vietnam War and shows how the United States became embroiled incrementally from the 1950s up to 1965. An interesting section explains how the...