The Proud Decades: America in War and Peace, 1941-1960

John Patrick Diggins. W. W. Norton & Company, $18.95 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-393-95656-6

In this highly readable survey of the period bracketed by Pearl Harbor and the election of John F. Kennedy, the author pays special attention to the years before the complacency-shattering launch of Sputnik in 1957 . ``Diggins covers a lot of territory with grace and clarity,'' praised PW. Photos. (Aug.)

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