Culture & Era

The phrase “Roaring 50s” isn’t as famous as the Roaring Twenties, but it fits better than you might think. The decade had speed, noise, confidence, anxiety, and a whole lot of shiny new stuff. Cars got bigger. TVs moved into living rooms. Rock and roll shook up radio. Suburbs spread. Teenagers became a cultural force. At the same time, the Cold War, civil rights battles, and strict social expectations made the decade far more complicated than its cheerful ads suggested.