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orangefan65's review against another edition
1.0
I enjoy historical non-fiction but get very bored with myopic history - that is, seeing history only as the revolutionary dreams of the oppressed in every square inch of the planet.
aloyokon's review against another edition
4.0
One would think that the 50s were a staid and boring decade. This book shows that that's not the case, as revolts against tyrannical regimes as varied as Jim Crow, Western Imperialism, and the Communist Empire itself, exploded or started to pick up steam all over the world in this decade. Dixie, the Iron Curtain, and the Third World all get plenty of focus in this book, as young people stood up to the powers that be all over the globe... and could again today, even though the world has changed so much.
Wish they had focused a bit more on Elvis, though.
Wish they had focused a bit more on Elvis, though.
buttchinbookchin's review against another edition
5.0
This book is an incredible historical text. Clean, accessible writing and diverse locations in focus (a rarity in historical writing). I bought this book because I knew a couple of things that interested me in 1956, but I finished it wanting to learn more about many other fascinating events of that year. It would have been nice if the book described what happened next for many of these events instead of alluding to them, and that is to say, I wanted more. The book does a wonderful job describing the world as it was in 1956, and even in its short descriptions of events, makes them feel incredibly real.
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