In a time of nearly universal homophobia, racism, sex discrimination and thoughtless assaults on the natural world, a few brave, stubborn, de-centered people fought against all odds for gay rights, feminism, civil rights and protection of the natural world. The only courage we have been witness to is the courage of isolated people.”Ī half-century later, those “isolated people” are some of the most consequential figures in American history. It was a time when, as Norman Mailer put, “a stench of fear has come out of every pore of American life, and we suffer from a collective failure of nerve. For a model of social progress in American history, the last place to look would be the postwar period, 1946-1963, sometimes known as the “long Fifties.” After 15 years of Depression and war-and then a nuclear-armed standoff that passed for peace-the retreat into a fearful conformity ruled, and progressive initiatives took on the character of subversion.
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