Populuxe: The Look and Life of America in the ’50s and ’60s, from Tailfins and TV Dinners to Barbie Dolls and Fallout Shelters

“Populuxe” – populism, popularity and luxury is the word coined by the author to express the atmosphere of American society during the decade 1954-1964.The book examines the new luxury products created at this time and the lifestyle they represent, so giving a tour of this era when the United States had a booming economy and was virtually unchallenged as a world power.It discusses the new world of mass suburbia where there was always a hope of being able to move up the ladder to something better and looks at the many new things there were to buy such as electric lawn mowers, washing machines, a charcoal grill and televisions. This was the push-button age when the flick of a finger promised the end of domestic drudgery and was also described as the Jet Age when cars sprout ed tail-fins.