The Fifties Illusion:

The Cultural Dry Rot that Doomed the Postwar Era “The Fifties”—broadly defined to cover the years 1946 to 1964—were on the surface “the best of times,” a golden age of religious renewal, strong families, and a vital and growing middle class. Beneath this façade, however, lurked the theological, moral, and social dry rot that would […]

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Two and a Half Cheers for the 1950s!

Rediscovering the Virtues of a Maligned Decade Within what cultural historian James Billington has aptly labeled “the academic-media-foundation complex,” aversion to the 1950s is now de rigueur. The decade of the Fifties is an era that must trigger—at its very mention—shudders of revulsion at its “social regressiveness,” a regressiveness manifest by a “rush to marry […]

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Introduction: Reassessing the 1950s

Among members of the Baby Boom generation, any reference to the 1950s provokes wild mood swings, including reactions and responses than can break stereotypes. The self-avowed democratic socialist Harold Meyerson (born in 1950) regularly uses his Washington Post column to gush effusive praise on the United States at mid-twentieth century, pointing to a national industrial […]

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Adultery and Divorce

Informed observers claim that as many as two-thirds of all divorces in America are not really necessary, as they split apart couples who report average happiness and low levels of conflict. But what about the other third? Precise statistics are difficult to come by, but adultery may very well be the precipitating cause, judging from […]

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When Parents Unglue, Kids Glue to the Screen

Public-health officials have expressed deep concern about the number of young Americans who are turning into couch potatoes fastened to electronic screens. Somehow these officials never get around to talking about the changes in family life that fostered such unhealthy behavior. But a study completed at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian School of […]

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The Myth of the ‘Good Divorce’

Since the no-fault regime was established in the 1970s, the so-called helping professions have performed verbal gymnastics to soothe the consciences of divorcing parents, claiming that if they work hard and maintain a “good divorce,” the effects upon their children will be minimal. Yet a groundbreaking study by Paul Amato suggests that the very concept […]

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Demographic Contradictions

How Civilizations Die: And Why Islam Is Dying Too David P. Goldman Regnery, 2011; 331 pages, $27.95 As one who appreciates the link between the family and the economy, David P. Goldman is one of our better economists. Yet because he is the sort of writer who likes to formulate Universal Laws of History, his […]

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The Heart of American Exceptionalism

The Case for Polarized Politics: Why America Needs Social Conservatism Jeffrey Bell Encounter Books, 2012; 322 pages, $25.95 For the past twenty years, the conventional wisdom espoused in Republican circles, by establishment types and by many who consider themselves conservative, is that candidates who want to win elections should avoid getting sidetracked into “divisive” social […]

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Judging Neoconservatism: Reading and Misreading the ‘Modern Cultural Situation’

The Neoconservative Persuasion, Selected Essays, 1942–2009 By Irving Kristol; edited by Gertrude Himmelfarb Basic Books, 2011; 390 pages, $29.95 There aren’t very many neoconservatives anymore. It’s a label that serves no purpose except to identify evil-doing and evil-thinking. So now’s the time to assess the achievements and the failures of what we must say, at […]

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Vital Signs Not Good

Nearly a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt warned that unless the average man and woman would have at least three children, the country would die a slow death. Judging from the latest report from the National Center for Health Statistics, the vital signs of the United States, as reflected in birthrates, are not encouraging. For the […]

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