Review of "The ‘50s Volume 1:1954-54, Life in Dubuque as pictured in The Telegraph Herald"

Review of

The ‘50s Volume 1:1954-54, Life in Dubuque as pictured in The Telegraph Herald ISBN 9780981980683


Five out of five stars

 This book contains minor history of the city of Dubuque, Iowa, that is what it is designed to do, so it must be given five stars. The photographs are generally posed and they are the type of images that are common to local papers that are covering local events. There are pictures of school events, Boys and Girls clubs events and outings, children sledding and playing in parks and women meeting in order to do volunteer and community work.

 The photographer that writes the introduction admits that given there were only two frames in the camera, they had the shot posed if at all possible. Dubuque was a fairly typical medium sized midwestern town in the 1950’s and these images reinforce the public images of the stereotypes. On the surface, all was well and good at that time, there are no hints of any of the darker undercurrents of racism, sexism and the political unrest of the Red Scare.