Front Stoops in the Fifties

Front Stoops in the Fifties PDF Author: Michael Olesker
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
ISBN: 142141161X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This personal history of prominent Baltimoreans sheds light on the social transformations already taking place in the supposedly innocent 1950s. Front Stoops in the Fifties recounts the stories of some of Baltimore’s most famous personalities as they grew up during the “decade of conformity”—just before they entered the turbulent 1960s. Focusing on the period before JFK’s assassination, Olesker looks to individuals who would go on to influence the brewing cultural revolution. Such familiar names as Jerry Leiber, Nancy Pelosi, Thurgood Marshall, and Barry Levinson figure prominently in Michael Olesker’s fascinating account, which draws on personal interviews and journalistic research. Olesker tells the story of Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, daughter of the mayor, who grew up in a political home and eventually became the first woman Speaker of the House. Thurgood Marshall, schooled in a racially segregated classroom, went on to argue Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka before the U.S. Supreme Court and rewrite race-relations law. These and many other stories come to life in Front Stoops in the Fifties. “[A] fascinating read . . . The shocking part is just how relevant these stories remain today.” —Baltimore Post-Examiner “[A] crisp, insightful dispatch from a skilled writer who knows his city and its history.” —David Simon, executive producer of HBO’s The Wire

Front Stoops in the Fifties

Front Stoops in the Fifties PDF Author: Michael Olesker
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
ISBN: 142141161X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
This personal history of prominent Baltimoreans sheds light on the social transformations already taking place in the supposedly innocent 1950s. Front Stoops in the Fifties recounts the stories of some of Baltimore’s most famous personalities as they grew up during the “decade of conformity”—just before they entered the turbulent 1960s. Focusing on the period before JFK’s assassination, Olesker looks to individuals who would go on to influence the brewing cultural revolution. Such familiar names as Jerry Leiber, Nancy Pelosi, Thurgood Marshall, and Barry Levinson figure prominently in Michael Olesker’s fascinating account, which draws on personal interviews and journalistic research. Olesker tells the story of Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, daughter of the mayor, who grew up in a political home and eventually became the first woman Speaker of the House. Thurgood Marshall, schooled in a racially segregated classroom, went on to argue Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka before the U.S. Supreme Court and rewrite race-relations law. These and many other stories come to life in Front Stoops in the Fifties. “[A] fascinating read . . . The shocking part is just how relevant these stories remain today.” —Baltimore Post-Examiner “[A] crisp, insightful dispatch from a skilled writer who knows his city and its history.” —David Simon, executive producer of HBO’s The Wire

From Front Porch to Back Seat

From Front Porch to Back Seat PDF Author: Beth L. Bailey
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421412470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
From gentleman callers to big men on campus, from Coke dates to "parking," From Front Porch to Back Seat is the vivid history of dating in America. In chronicling a dramatic shift in patterns of courtship between the 1920s and the 1960s, Beth Bailey offers a provocative view of how we sought out mates-and of what accounted for our behavior. More than a quarter-century has passed since the dating system Bailey describes here lost its coherence and dominance. Yet the legacy of the system remains a strong part of our culture's attempt to define female and male roles alike.

Founding Gardeners

Founding Gardeners PDF Author: Andrea Wulf
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307390683
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A groundbreaking look at the Founding Fathers and their obsession with gardening, agriculture, and botany by the author of Magnificent Rebels and New York Times bestseller The Invention of Nature. • “Illuminating and engrossing.” —The New York Times Book Review For the Founding Fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions: a conjoined interest as deeply ingrained in their characters as the battle for liberty and a belief in the greatness of their new nation. Founding Gardeners is an exploration of that obsession, telling the story of the revolutionary generation from the unique perspective of their lives as gardeners, plant hobbyists, and farmers. Acclaimed historian Andrea Wulf describes how George Washington wrote letters to his estate manager even as British warships gathered off Staten Island; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s faith in their fledgling nation; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of environmentalism. Through these and other stories, Wulf reveals a fresh, nuanced portrait of the men who created our nation.

Front Porch Politics

Front Porch Politics PDF Author: Michael S. Foley
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0809054825
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
"An on-the-ground history of ordinary Americans who took to the streets when political issues became personal. It is widely believed that Americans of the 1970s and '80s were exhausted by the upheavals of the '60s and eager to retreat to the private realm. When they did take action, it was mainly to express their disillusionment with government by supporting the right. In fact, as Michael Stewart Foley shows, neither of these assumptions is correct. On the community level, the 1970s and '80s saw vibrant new forms of political activity emerge. Tenants challenged landlords, farmers practiced civil disobedience to protect their land, and laid-off workers asserted a right to own their idled factories. Activists fought to defend the traditional family or to expand the rights of women, while entire towns organized to protest the toxic sludge in their basements. In all these arenas, Americans were propelled by their own experiences into the public sphere. Disregarding conventional ideas of "left" and "right," they turned to political action when they perceived an immediate threat to the safety and security of their families, homes, or dreams. Front Porch Politics is a people's history told through on-the-ground experiences. Recalling crusades famous and forgotten, Foley shows how Americans followed their outrage into the streets. Their distinctive style of visceral, local, and highly personal activism remains a vital resource for the renewal of American democracy"--

The American Porch

The American Porch PDF Author: Michael Dolan
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504090470
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
The former American History editor explores the creation and restoration of an essential part of a twentieth-century home’s identity—the American porch. “In this delightful look at an American icon, journalist and documentary scriptwriter . . . Dolan traces the history of the porch, using this history to explore subjects such as architecture, history, slavery, colonialism, trade, anthropology, sociology, consumer behavior, and publishing.” —Library Journal In 1981, Michael Dolan and his wife, Eileen O’Toole, bought a 1926 suburban bungalow in the Palisades area of Washington, DC. It was a fixer-upper and DIY project that consumed their lives for twelve years. As rooms were transformed with updated electrical wiring and plumbing, the house’s porch became a storage area, rotating appliances, furniture, and construction materials as they were used and discarded. After the interior renovation was completed, Michael finally turned his attention to the porch, working with contractors to resurrect it—a reconstruction that inspired him to uncover the history of porches and their significance as a symbolic piece of Americana. “In praise of the porch: Come up and sit a spell.” —USA Today “A wry, well-researched look at the place and the people who rocked, talked and courted on [the American porch] for three centuries.” —Parade “The porch is making a comeback, gradually replacing its humbler rival the deck, which the traditionalist Dolan refers to as the platform shoe or leisure suit of American architecture.” —Time “Dolan amply demonstrates that the porch is primarily a means of escaping the heat and, almost as important, a locus for casual social interaction.” —Publishers Weekly

Fifty Fifty

Fifty Fifty PDF Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316513245
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Detective Harriet Blue is determined to clear a convicted killer's name . . . but when there's another murder, can she escape the madmen holding her hostage? What are the chances that convicted killer Sam Blue is innocent of the serial murders of three young women? Determined to clear his name, no matter the cost to her career, Detective Harriet Blue accepts a risky reassignment to a remote town where a diary found on the roadside reveals a murderous plan. And the first killing, shortly after her arrival, suggests that the clock is already ticking. Meanwhile, back in the city, a young woman holds the key to crack Harriet's brother's case wide open. If only she could escape the madmen holding her hostage.

Here's Fifty

Here's Fifty PDF Author: Garth Clark Dawson
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595527442
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Children often wish they knew more about their parents, and the author gives his kids a picture of what it was like, growing up in the 1940, s as an only child, on a farm, attending a one room school. He explains the responsibilities farm children accept, the chores they do, the farm tasks they carry out. He tells of a unique relationship with animals, as working tools, as pets and as products. He talks about the war years and how it affected farm families and communities. He tells of his college experience and of migrating to Chicago, looking for adventure. He tells about meeting their mother in the big city and the challenge for each of them adjusting to the totally different upbringing and lifestyle of the other. He discusses jobs as a taxi driver and a mechanic before starting a career in law enforcement with the Chicago Police Department, and tells of experiences as a city patrolman, a detective, and later as Police Chief in small Nebraska Communities. He reminisces about the family during these years, his wife and four children, the places they lived, people they knew and pets they owned and the fun times they had

Fifty Hours to La

Fifty Hours to La PDF Author: John R. Hampson III
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1546241833
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This is a story of a family fighting for survival in a world that may one day resemble our own. While on a business trip to Chicago, a man is separated from the wife he loves and the two sons he adores, who must fend for themselves in California in the opening hours of a nuclear war. His only hope in reuniting with his family lies in a cross-country odyssey in a light plane. Along the way, he must overcome enemy forces and barriers with the help of some newfound allies.

Fifty Minus Six

Fifty Minus Six PDF Author: Randall W. Anderson
Publisher: Tate Publishing
ISBN: 1602472963
Category : Christian fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The old aristocrat, Vera McMichael, has two terrible quandaries in her last decade of life. First, there is the teen pregnancy of her granddaughter, Clara. For the 1940s, a baby out of wedlock would foil the familys reputation, especially living in Smut near Vidalia, GA. However, Big Mama, the staunch matriarch, manages to save face by concealing the truth. Secondly, her daughters death presents a bigger dilemma. Obviously waiting like a vulture for Big Mamas demise, Clara is a vixen. The problem is the will of Veras late father. All her property, a life estate from him, is destined to belong to the undeserving granddaughter. Determined, Vera schemes and lies again to obtain her goal in a devious plan called The Fifty. The family lawyer tries in vain to advise Vera against this crazy idea. However, the two new employees, too nave to understand the deep ramifications and potential consequences, accept her offer. In a stupendously twisted irony, The Fifty eventually entangles the lives of two people yet to be born when it was incubated. Novelist Randall W. Anderson spins a tall, tantalizing tale. You will chuckle at what it took to bury Vera, abhor Claras odious words, feel Andrews agonizing pain, taste Jellys sweet success, and whiff Veras fragrant roses. Every mounting lie and discovered truth is absolutely appalling. Forget rattling. For ages the skeletons in Vera McMichaels closet jangled!

Fifty Years from the Basement to the Second Floor

Fifty Years from the Basement to the Second Floor PDF Author: Tom Colbert
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1039169694
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
In Fifty Years from the Basement to the Second Floor, Tom Colbert, former chief of justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, shares his extraordinary life story—a story of resilience, determination, and hope. From his great-great grandmother who, though born into slavery, lived to be over 100 years old to his great grandfather who fought to be enrolled as a member of Creek Tribal Nation to his grandfather who walked over a mile home after being shot in the chest, never giving up no matter how hard the journey was instilled into Tom at a very young age. Born on December 30, 1949, Tom was raised by his mother and grandparents in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, when segregation laws were in effect. In fact, a few days after Tom was born, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher had just started her second semester as a law student at the University of Oklahoma Law School after fighting for three years to be admitted there, refusing to attend the makeshift “Black-only” law school set up in the basement of the State Capitol. Though racial segregation was deemed unconstitutional in 1954, integration was intentionally delayed in Tom’s town, and he didn’t attend an integrated school until the fall of 1965. Although some teachers at his high school were welcoming, many staff and students were not, and Tom and his friends experienced racism, bigotry, and hatred, despite being star athletes and diligent students. Though he grew up in poverty and a world entrenched in systemic racism as well as dealt with family tragedies, Tom beat impossible odds, proving the naysayers of his youth wrong. He not only worked hard and became an outstanding lawyer, but reached the pinnacle of judiciary—and became the first Black man in Oklahoma to do so. Just like Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, Tom refused the “basement,” and that noble resistance led him all the way to the second floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol.