The Rockin' 50s

The decade that transformed the pop scene, the 1950s, are here recreated in an authoritative history. From the death of Tin Pan Alley to the birth of rock and roll, Arnold Shaw has captured a wide range of characters - Col Tom Parker, Sam Phillips, Perry Como, Mitch Miller, Dick Clark, Hank Williams, Fats Domino, Little Richard, James Brown, Fabian and dozens of others all set against a background of hula hoops, singing chipmunks, teen-age love and a young singer named Elvis Presley. Written with wit, this history of a contradictory decade - repressed and oversexed - will correct anyone who thinks this was an age of conformity.