Coming on the heels of enforced saving by families and individuals during World War II, the 1950s were an era of extraordinary prosperity, during which living standards rose rapidly and the economy came to be dominated by consumption. The Baby Boom Generation, raised in the era of affluence, was targeted almost from birth by ad executives.

Please use this page to call our attention to any interesting discoveries you make about the culture and media of the fifties, from the rise of television to the avant garde literature of the Beat Poets. Curious facts, figures, songs, shows, etc. are all welcome. You can also contribute compelling ideas from secondary sources—but I’d like to keep the emphasis here on primary rather than secondary texts.

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