Ronald Oakley God's Country Analysis

Historians agree that a generation “gap” was created in the 1950s between parents and teenagers; however, it has been debatable whether the introduction of Rock N Roll was its cause. In his book, “God’s Country: America in the Fifties”, J. Ronald Oakley provides a convincing argument that teenagers were not changing their values and morals during this time, but instead were simply adapting to the growing changes, such as the end of The Great Depression and World War II, an improved economy, Dr. Spock’s child care manual, introduction of cars and televisions to American households, to list a few. Oakley’s argument is strengthened by factoring in all these changes into the equation instead of unrealistically blaming the entire dismantling of

Many adults were against the new rock ‘n’ roll that he brought to the industry, and “objected to its suggestive lyrics and claimed that it fomented rebellion against parents and other authorities, bred immorality, inflamed teenagers to riot, and was unchristian and unpatriotic” while “others objected to its racial background and content, even claiming, as many southerners did, that rock ‘n’roll was a plot jointly sponsored by the Kremlin and the NAACP…designed to tear down the barriers of segregation and bring about sexual promiscuity, intermarriage, and a decline in the morals of young whites.” Oakley states that the debate over rock ‘n’ roll continued throughout the decade, but by 1960, parents witnessed their teenagers grow into conservative adults despite listening to Rock ‘n’ Roll music; slowly they began to accept the genre of music, no longer fearing it would corrupt their

He continues that in a 1956 poll by Woman’s Home Companion, concluded that teenage boys and girls chose Como as the best male vocalist, with Presley, Boone, and Sinatra tailing behind.” If nothing else, these two surveys prove Oakley’s argument that teenagers were choosing their music selections for no other reason than what was important to them in their world at that time, love, going steady, automobiles, and high