The 1950s have faded into something of nostalgic glow many Americans who remember them. A time when the Brooklyn Dodgers dueled with the Yankees, when lawnmowers and barbeques became backyard fixtures.
The ’50s are less often referred to as a time of racism, sexism and seldom recalled for the great public scares like the one that surrounded infantile paralysis, or polio. Frank Deford’s latest book drops us dead center in the 1950s of suburban Baltimore where he grew up, placing us eye to eye with a girl who might have been golden had it not been for the iron lung that became her home, and eye to eye with the discomfort of a small boy witnessing, for the first time, the failings of grown ups.
Guests:
Frank Deford, commentator, sportswriter, and author of “An American Summer”