20th Century: 1950-1975

We're working on changing this category to the dates 1950-1975. That means that books about the end of the cold war will move to the category 1976-2000.

If we watch American TV sitcoms from the 1950s we're apt to assume those were golden years of plenty, downhome wisdom, somewhat stilted humor, and easily overcome obstacles. Also, all women were pretty, all dads were successful, all girls knew how to cook and sew, and all boys had a crystal radio, grease under his fingernails, and rolled jeans cuffs.

This was what is known by psychologists as denial. But, coming home after the biggest war ever fought, could you blame the citizen G.I.'s for wanting to forget what they never wanted to know in the first place? Unfortunately for the places that war was fought, forgetting and moving forward wasn't quite as easy. It wasn't easy at all, in fact.

Right off the bat, the Communists started to take over. Winston Churchill had seen this coming, but his fellow world leaders failed to heed his warnings, and the next thing they knew the Reds had taken over North Korea and were moving into South Korea. The ensuing Korean War (1950-1953) was essentially a war between the Red Chinese and the United States over whether South Korea would become a Communist nation or not.

Technically the war was never resolved (to this day, no treaty or surrender has been signed; we're in the midst of an impossibly long cease fire), but it set a precedent among free-world nations: Communism was their responsibility to stop, and they would do so wherever it presented itself as a threat. This interventionist mentality was rationalized by the "domino effect," the idea that if one country fell to Communism, all the others around it would quickly follow suit, tumbling over like a series of dominoes.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme Allied commander during World War II and president of the U.S. during the Korean War, was the first to put the doctrine into words. France and the United Kingdom were also proponents of the theory, though whether they were as altruistic as the U.S. is another question—both nations still had a large colonial and post-colonial interest in many of the countries in question.

Not least of these was Vietnam. By the time the U.S. entered the conflict, France had already fought a long war known as the First Indochina War in North Vietnam (1946-1954), asserting their colonial control; they lost. So did the Americans, but they stuck around for 19 1/2 years (1955-1975) in an effort to stem the tide of Communism.

What exactly was everyone so afraid of? Genocide, for one thing: wherever Communism went, it brought massive population reduction in the form of mass executions, torture, political killings, forced labor, and imprisonment. Authoritarianism must eliminate any threat to absolute control, and that's exactly what men like Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il-sung, and Pol Pot did.

The other major reason was quite different. The fantasy world of the '50s ideal would not stand, nor would physical prosperity be possible, in a country under Communist rule. In order to forget the Great Depression and the World Wars, it was necessary for capitalism to thrive and grow. Liberty and prosperity were the catch-phrases of the day.

Liberty took on interesting meaning in the 1960s. Counter-culture movements sprouted up, the result of kids misunderstanding and reacting (sometimes legitimately) against their parents' materialism. Sexual mores were more publicly loosened, drugs were seen as a means to freedom and enlightenment, and doing what you wanted became the rule of the day.

Nothing changed much in the 1970s or '80s, except that bad behavior became increasingly acceptable and public. Looming over the entire landscape was the Cold War, and there was a sense that it was playtime before the apocalypse. But 1990 rolled around, and the only apocalypse was the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the break-up of the Eastern Bloc (the Eastern European Communist countries).

In the end, the demise of Communism was more subtle than bombs or invasions. Ironically, capitalism itself contributed to its downfall; Communist countries found that a measure of market economics was necessary to sustain nations long term, and some abandoned the Communist project altogether, while others simply incorporated capitalist practices into the Communist framework. This is part of the answer to Communist China's continued existence and success.

The last half of the 20th century was kind of the Age of Communism. But it was also the age of postmodernism, with its emphasis on personal liberty without culpability, moral relativity, and relativity in general. Both ideologies continue to spread and to influence people and nations; in such a climate, the only response for Christians is to counter with the truth of the Gospel, not as a competing ideology, but as the only reality in a world overtaken by contrasting political theories and comparative religions.

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245 Items found Print
10,000 Days of Thunder
by Philip Caputo
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
A is for Atom
by Greg Paprocki
Brdbk from Gibbs M. Smith
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Board Books (Location: PIC-BOARD)
Albert Schweitzer
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
All Aboard for Freedom
by Marie McSwigan, illustrated by E. Harper Johnson, with an introduction by Jan Papanek
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
All Shook Up
Pivotal Moments in American History
by Glenn C. Altschuler
from Oxford University
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America and Vietnam
by Albert Marrin
from Beautiful Feet Books
Historical Non-Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$13.95
America At War: Korean War
by John Perritano
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America In Korean War
by KidCaps
from BookCaps
for 3rd-5th grade
in Korean War (1950-1953) (Location: HISA-20KW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
America in the 1970s
from Facts On File
for 5th-8th grade
in 20th Century America (Location: HISA-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
America's White Table
by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Mike Benny
from Sleeping Bear Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American History: The Civil Rights Movement & Vietnam 1960-1976
from Saddleback Educational Publishing
for 3rd-5th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Americans at War
from University Press of Mississippi
for Adult
in Modern History (Location: HISW-MOD)
And the Word Came With Power
by Joanne Shetler, Patricia Purvis
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
for 2nd-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Andie's Moon
Historical House: 1969
by Linda Newbery
from Educational Development Corporation
for 3rd-6th grade
in Series Books (Location: SER-MISC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Assassination of John F. Kennedy: November 22, 1963
24 Hour History
by Terry Collins
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: April 4, 1968
24 Hour History
by Terry Collins
from Capstone Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Betty Greene
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Born Again
by Charles W. Colson
First Edition from Chosen Books
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Brother's Keeper
by Julie Lee
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
from Charisma House
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
Updated from Charisma House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Call to Conscience
by Martin Luther King, Jr., Edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard
from Grand Central Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Cape Lost
Adventures in New Zealand #2
by Joyce West
from Bethlehem Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.95
Captured!
by Carolyn Paine Miller
1st edition from Christian Herald Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cheer the Lonesome Traveller
by Leslie Alexander Lacy, illustrated by James Barkley
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Storm
by Natasha Vins
from Bob Jones University Press
Autobiography for 8th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Choosing Brave
by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington
from Roaring Brook Press
for 1st-4th grade
2023 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Civil Rights Movement in America
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Elaine Landau
Reprint from Children's Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Clarence Jones
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Cold War Correspondent
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Countdown
by Deborah Wiles
1st edition from Scholastic Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Creative Haven Fabulous Fashions of the 1950's
Creative Haven
by Ming-Ju Sun
from Dover Publications
for 5th-Adult
in Adult Coloring Books (Location: COL-ADULT)
$7.99
Cuban Missile Crisis
by Karl E. Valois
from History Compass
Historical Non-Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Communism & The Cold War (Location: HISA-20CW)
$7.95
David Bussau
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Janet & Geoff Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Dorothea Dix
A Discovery Book
by Mary Malone
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Douglas Macarthur: American Hero
Book Report Biographies
by Barbara Silberdick Feinberg
from Franklin Watts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech in Translation
by Leslie J. Holland
from Capstone Press
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.95
Dragonfly Eyes
by Cao Wenxuan, translated from the Chinese by Helen Wang
from Candlewick Press
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Dream of Freedom
for 7th-12th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Drovers Road
Adventures in New Zealand #1
by Joyce West
from Bethlehem Books
Realistic Fiction for 7th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.95
Echoes of the White Giraffe
by Sook Nyul Choi
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.95
Eighth Moon
by Bette Lord
from HarperCollins
Biography for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps
by Peter Galison
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Elisabeth Elliot
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Era Of WWII Through Contemporary Times 1939-Present
Focus on U.S. History
by Kathy Sammis
from Walch Publishing
for 7th-12th grade
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Eyes on the Prize - DVD Set
by Henry Hampton, creator and executive producer
from PBS Home Video
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
from Scholastic Inc.
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.99
Feathers
by Jacqueline Woodson
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 4th-7th grade
2008 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Forward March to Freedom
by Barbara Kay Greenleaf
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Francis Schaeffer
by Bruce Little, ed.
from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
Free at Last
by Sara Bullard
from Oxford University
for 3rd-6th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Freedom on the Menu
by Carole Boston Weatherford
Reprint from Puffin Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$6.99
Freedom Summer
by Deborah Wiles
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 1st-3rd grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$14.99 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Freedom's Children
by Ellen Levine
from Penguin Putnam
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.99
Gift of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Purple House Press
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$10.99
Girl From the Tar Paper School
by Teri Kanefield
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Gladys Aylward
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99 $6.00 (3 in stock)
Glory Be
by Augusta Scattergood
Reprint from Scholastic Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99
God's Smuggler
by Brother Andrew
from Chosen Books
Biography for 7th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Book History of the United States Volume 10
by Earl Schenck Miers
from Golden Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Golden Country
Adventures in New Zealand #3
by Joyce West
from Bethlehem Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.95
Gone Crazy in Alabama
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Goodbye, Vietnam
by Gloria Whelan
Bullseye Books ed from Yearling
for 5th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Great Republic
by Winston Churchill
from Modern Library
American History Reference for 11th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
from Sun Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
from Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Happy Birthday, Dr. King!
by Kathryn Jones, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
from Modern Curriculum Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
2006th edition from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Historical Sticker Dolly Dressing: 1950s Fashion
from Usborne
for 1st-4th grade
History of the Civil Rights Movement - Coloring Book
by Steven James Petruccio
from Dover Publications
in History of America Coloring Books (Location: COL-HISA)
$3.99
History of US Book 10
History of US Book 10
by Joy Hakim
4th edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95
I Am Rosa Parks
by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins, illustrated by Wil Clay
from Dial Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
I Am the Clay
by Chaim Potok
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
I Have a Dream / Letter from Birmingham Jail
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
from Perfection Learning
for 10th-Adult
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967
I Survived #17
by Lauren Tarshis
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.00 (6 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
by Ellen Levine
Updated from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
from Broadway Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
In Search of the Source
by Neil Anderson, Hyatt Moore
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
Missionary Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
by Bette Bao Lord
from HarperCollins
Immigration for 2nd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.00 (7 in stock)
In This Hour
by Rudolf Van Reest
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$15.95
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Jackie Robinson Breaks the Color Line
Cornerstones of Freedom series
by Andrew Santella
from Scholastic Inc.
Non-fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Jackie Robinson: Young Sports Trailblazer
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Herb Dunn
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Jacob DeShazer
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Jazz Man
by Mary Hays Weik
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Jesse Jackson
by Pat McKissack
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
John F. Kennedy
A Discovery Book
by Charles P. Graves
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Joni
by Joni Eareckson Tada
from Zondervan
Biography for 8th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Jungle Pilot
by Russell Hitt
from Discovery House Publishers
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Keeping Score
by Linda Sue Park
from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
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