"This examination and celebration of the literature and thought of the 1950s throws the enduring works of a golden era into high relief. An unconventional tour of a crucial period in 20th-century culture, the present book avoids sweeping surveys and gets to the heart of major achievement." "Beyond the Gray Flannel Suit shows how particular landmark books took on the hot-button subjects of the 1950s - race and religious difference; social class and the suburbs; the youth culture; rebellion, conformity, and groupthink; the telling conflicts over taste and judgment - and how, in the process, whether we realize it or not, this body of super-charged literature shaped today's American culture."--Jacket.
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