{"product_id":"front-stoops-in-the-fifties-baltimore-legends-come-of-age-9781421424255","title":"Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFront Stoops in the Fifties\u003c\/em\u003e recounts the stories of some of Baltimore's most famous personalities as they grew up during the \"decade of conformity.\" Such familiar names as Jerry Leiber, Nancy Pelosi, Thurgood Marshall, and Barry Levinson figure prominently in Michael Olesker's gripping account, which draws on personal interviews and journalistic digging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOlesker marks the end of the fifties with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. \"It's as if millions will suddenly decide to act out their anxieties and their rage, as if Kennedy's murder exposed some hypocrisy at the heart of the American dream,\" he writes. Focusing on the period leading up to this turning point in U.S. history, Olesker looks to the individuals living through the changes that were just beginning to surface and would later come to prominence in the sixties.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fifties are often remembered with longing as a more innocent time. But it was also a suffocating time for many. Alongside innocence was ignorance. Olesker tells the story of Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi, daughter of the mayor, who grew up in a political home and eventually became the first woman Speaker of the House. Thurgood Marshall, schooled in a racially segregated classroom, went on to argue \u003cem\u003eBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka\u003c\/em\u003e before the U.S. Supreme Court and rewrite race-relations law. Even the music changed. Olesker's doo-wop portrait of Baltimore is nostalgic, but it has a hard edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Olesker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Johns Hopkins University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/06\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781421424255\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Olesker\u003c\/b\u003e wrote a column for the \u003ci\u003eBaltimore Sun \u003c\/i\u003efor twenty-five years. He is the author of five previous books, including \u003ci\u003eMichael Olesker's Baltimore: If You Live Here, You're Home\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eJourneys to the Heart of Baltimore\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e The Colts' Baltimore: A City and Its Love Affair in the 1950s\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44436201472115,"sku":"9781421424255","price":41.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/files\/img_454a4a64-06f7-4791-b4a8-0c6400abdf8c.jpg?v=1772893142","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/front-stoops-in-the-fifties-baltimore-legends-come-of-age-9781421424255","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}