Publishers Weekly
05/18/2020
Journalist Burns (The Politics of Fame) delivers a richly detailed yet disorganized account of the year 1957 in American history. Among many topics, people, and events, Burns relates the laying of 41,000 miles of new roadway under President Eisenhower’s Highway Act to the success of the 1957 Chevy Bel Air and the failure of the Edsel. He also profiles Christian evangelist Billy Graham and libertarian writer Ayn Rand, and documents the launch of West Side Story on Broadway and the Brooklyn Dodgers’ move to L.A. Other topics touched on include McCarthyism, mob influence in Cuba, Elvis Presley, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and the cult classic film I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Though all occurred or rose to prominence in 1957, Burns lacks a unifying theme strong enough to turn his impressive knowledge into more than a collection of trivia. Even fairly straightforward parallels, such as the symbolic link between the displacement of whole neighborhoods to make room for interstate highways and the Dodgers’ abandonment of Brooklyn, go unremarked. Burns’s recounting of more obscure events, such as the Mad Bomber of New York’s largely incompetent, yet highly publicized, “reign of terror,” are welcome, but readers are likely to be left frustrated by the book’s randomness. This scattershot account fails to hit its target. (Aug.)
Manhattan Book Review
4.5/5 Stars. 1957 offers a candid view of an eventful year in a decade of ups and downs. From mad bombers to mad hatters, the book maintains a consistency of captivating chapters. .. The past is reanimated with a passionate fervor for the masses to enjoy.
AIR MAIL
.. . the clear message of [1957] is that the center wasn’t holding. The Western escapism on TV (Gunsmoke) and re-litigation of World War II glories in theaters (The Bridge on the River Kwai) belied emerging ideological fault lines that would widen in the coming decades.Ingeniously, Burns connects chapters about Billy Graham’s 97-day run at New York stadiums with the publication of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, twin milestones for evangelicals and libertarians.. .. Burns’s casual look beneath the surface reveals a host of disintegrations and delayed reckonings, ones that have lasted to this day.
Richard Aquila
Eric Burns’ fast-paced cultural history spotlights 1957 – a pivotal year in Eisenhower’s America. Burns connects the dots to show how Sputnik, the Little Rock Nine, the McClellan Committee, Jack Kerouac, Billy Graham, Walter O’Malley, West Side Story, the ‘57 Chevy, rock & roll, and more helped shape modern America.
Washington Independent Review of Books
A densely written, fact-packed account of a pivotal period in U.S. history.
Regarp Book Blog
In 1957: The Year That Launched the American Future, a fascinating, fast-paced chronicle manifested by articulately rendered, thought-provocative chapter-length essays, author and journalist Eric Burns reminds us of what a pivotal year that proved to be, not only by kindling that first contest to dominate space, but in multiple other arenas of the social, political, and cultural, much that is only apparent in retrospect.
