Happy Days and Wonder Years: The Fifties and the Sixties in Contemporary Cultural Politics

by Daniel Marcus

In the twenty-first century, why do we keep talking about the Fifties and the Sixties? The stark contrast between these decades, their concurrence with the childhood and youth of the baby boomers, and the emergence of television and rock and roll help to explain their symbolic power. In Happy Days and Wonder Years , Daniel Marcus reveals how interpretations of these decades have figured in the cultural politics of the United States since 1970.

From Ronald Reagan's image as a Fifties Cold Warrior to Bill Clinton's fandom for Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy, politicians have invoked the Fifties and the Sixties to connect to their public. Marcus shows how films, television, music, and memoirs have responded to the political nostalgia of today, and why our entertainment remains immersed in reruns, revivals, and references to earlier times. This book offers a new understanding of how politics and popular culture have influenced our notions of the past, and how events from long ago continue to shape our understanding of the present day.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jehnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much of what Marcus says about the Regan administration could just as easily be said of the Trump administration. The overlap was unexpected.

Mostly I read this for another perspective on nostalgia. I appreciate the discussion of how politicians use conservative nostalgia to recreate an unrealized idealized past.