- Publisher: TURNER PUBLISHING CO (TN)
- Publication date: 04/01/2010
- Copyright Date: 2009
- Pages: 344
- ISBN: 978-0-470-60203-4
- Author: Fred Kaplan
1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan is not a book I would normally review on Amazing Stories. It is not science fiction. It is not fantasy. It references some science, but is not a science book. The closest I can come is history as it covers events and happenings and trends that had their impetus in this critical year. It is more a collection of essays and thoughts on the myriad different aspects of the year and how they presaged much of our future for the next several decades. They continue to impact us to this day. Then, as I think about it more, maybe this is a good place to review this book as it is a series of Amazing Stories.
1959: The Year Everything Changed is not an exhaustive history of the year. It doesn’t even mention such things as Alaska and Hawaii being granted statehood, or the birth of a beloved author. What it does do is to review some of the society changing events that started or flexed in this year.
Among them:
- Fidel Castro took power in Cuba
- The first man-made object broke free of Earth’s orbit (Soviet spacecraft Luntik) and the US matched the feat later in the year
- Federal judges ordered Atlanta to integrate its buses and trolleys
- Berry Gordy founded Motown records
- Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac and other “beat” writings and readings opened eyes to different ways of living
- Miles Davis recorded the seminal jazz work “Kind of Blue”. This was just one of several creative expansions in Jazz and other music.
- Various publications previously considered obscene were allowed to be published and mailed in the USA (e.g. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Naked Lunch, etc.)
- The first two US soldiers were killed in Viet Nam
- Texas Instruments announced the invention of the microchip and IBM released its first practical business computer (IBM 1401)
- G.D. Searle applied for FDA approval of the birth control pill
- John F. Kennedy announced his plan to run for president of the US
The 1960’s are often thought of as the ‘turbulent decade’ that changed America. That was certainly when many of the changes were embedded into the culture, but Kaplan makes a good case that it was 1959: The Year Everything Changed.
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Phobias Series by Matt Truxaw
Matt Truxaw is the author of the hard science fiction thriller “Plastiphobia: aka Plastivore” and his newest novel “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale” – released January 3, 2025.
They are both available on Amazon in Paperback, Kindle and are free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read either, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets most of his books out of the library so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
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