Faust found the letter in the archives of the Eisenhower library, while researching her new memoir, “Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury.” In the book, which will be published on Aug. 22 by Farrar Straus and Giroux, Faust turns the tools of the historian’s trade on herself, and the privileged, conservative Southern world she grew up in — and moved away from.
“It could be described as an escape from Virginia, both literally and metaphorically, and an escape from a past and a set of circumstances that were stifling,” she said last month in her office at Harvard.
But it’s also an argument for the possibility of social and political change, against what she sees as the fatalism — and forgetting — of today.
“The times I grew up in were in many ways unimaginable to younger people today, especially in the face of proclamations that nothing has changed, everything is terrible, everything’s always going to be terrible,” Faust said.
“If a younger person was parachuted into the 1950s, they would be horrified beyond belief.”
Persons:
Faust, Eisenhower, Farrar Straus, Giroux, ”, it’s, everything’s, ” Faust
Organizations:
Harvard
Locations:
Midcentury, ”, Southern, —, Virginia
![Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kahlan-Rosenblatt.Jpg](/find/mix/0?q="Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kahlan-Rosenblatt.Jpg"){kind=link}