American literature in transition ; 1950 1960: 1950 1960 Machine generated contents note: Introduction Steven Belletto; Part I. Cultural Issues: 1. Cold War Arthur Redding; 2. Mass media Katie Muth; 3. When psychoanalysis was in vogue Mary Esteve; 4. Towards decolonization Cathy J. Schlund Vials; 5. Religion Jason Stevens; 6. Politics Tracy Floreani; Part II. Varieties of Literary Experience: 7. WASP culture Keith Wilhite; 8. African American literature Steven Belletto; 9. Los(t) happy days: Chicana o literature 1950 1960 Spencer R. Herrera; 10. Asian American literature Tara Fickle; 11. Gay and lesbian culture in the 1950s Michael Trask; 12. Feminist literature Kathlene McDonald; 13. Youth culture and the postwar drop out narrative Denis Jonnes; Part III. Schools Movements and Sensibilities: 14. Proto postmodernism Robert Genter; 15. Black mountain college as experimental arts community Anne Dewey; 16. The beat movement Fiona Paton; 17. Advertisements for themselves: poetry confession and the arts of publicity Christopher Grobe; 18. New York School Ben Hickman; 19. Literary exiles cultural emigres Martin Halliwell; 20. The literature of commitment Alan Wald; Part IV. Formats and Genres: 21. From consensus to conflict: little magazines in the 1950s Loren Glass; 22. Best sellers and the 1950s Evan Brier; 23. A genre comes of age: the maturation of science fiction in the 1950s Rob Latham American Literature in Transition 1950 1960 explores the underrecognized complexity and variety of 1950s American literature by focalizing discussions through a series of keywords and formats that encourage readers to draw fresh connections among literary form and concepts institutions cultures and social phenomena important to the decade. The first section draws attention to the relationship between literature and cultural phenomena that were new to the 1950s. The second section demonstrates the range of subject positions important in the 1950s but still not visible in many accounts of the era. The third section explores key literary schools or movements associated with the decade and explains how and why they developed at this particular cultural moment. The final section focuses on specific forms or genres that grew to special prominence during the 1950s. Taken together the chapters in the four sections not only encourage us to rethink familiar texts and figures in new lights but also propose new archives for future study of the decade