Free Front Stoops In The Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come Of Age Chronicled By Michael Olesker Text

evocation of the myth of the innocent's
Michael Olesker wrote Front Stoops in the Fifties with a passion about the great melting pot of Baltimore during a special era when Baltimoreans contributed so much to the community and beyond.
Front Stoops opens up with an historically significant date, November,, . . the assassination of President John F, Kennedy a moment in time which completely pushed aside the 'innocent fifties, ' Among those Baltimoreans who Olesker researched and interviewed, several stand out: Jerry Lieber, with his new, unforgettable RampB music the struggles of Clarence Mitchell for civil rights and equality Baltimore Mayor Tommy D'Alessandro's leadership and his young daughter, Nancy's political contributions Barry Levinson's nostalgic recall of growing up in Northwest Baltimore which found its way onto the BIG screen and then there is Richard Holley, a young black educator who taught thousands of local students not just how to become bilingual five days a week in junior high school, but how to become involved and part of the recently desegregated community as well.
Front Stoops is all about Baltimore's legacy, It's really a 'good read', . . filled with diverse, nostalgic, and wonderful moments, . . especially for those giftgiving occasions,
Loved this book very interesting talked about growing up in the's and events that shaped the peoples lives growing up in that era!!!!! Because I grew up in Baltimore I was surprised to find that in the first two pages I knew some of the people mentioned in the book.
I am more of a child of the sixties rather than the fifties but I remembered a lot of the families profiled in this book.
Good local reading. This was an excellent review of the fifties, specific to Baltimore, told thoroughly and insightfully, I enjoyed reading about musical and political personalities, and more, Front Stoops in the Fifties 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 Oleskers gripping account, which draws on personal interviews and journalistic digging.


Olesker marks the end of the fifties with the assassination of President John F, Kennedy. "Its as if millions will suddenly decide to act out their anxieties and their rage, as if Kennedys 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.


The 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 DAlesandro 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 Brown

v, Board of Education of Topeka before the Supreme Court and rewrite U, S. racerelations law. Even the music changed. Oleskers doowop portrait of Baltimore is nostalgic, but it has a hard edge, .