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Depending upon how liberal one wants to be with what constitutes an event (JFK "deciding" to run for President?), I think most years in the 20th Century can be seen as fairly important. And calendar years seem like an arbitrary focus through which to examine fluent social change. That said, I do think there are certain pivotal beads of time in history where a convergence of seemingly unrelated events forever changes the world in a way people may or may not immediately recognize.

1968-Summer 1969 was one such period. It began in January 1968 with the Tet Offensive, which escalated the pace of American casualties in Vietnam, saw American public opinion turn against the Vietnam War and fomented the rise of a protest movement which would not only exacerbate the controversy of the war but which also created a national counterculture that would outlive it and forever alter social norms of marriage, family, drug use and music.

There was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F Kennedy and the following race riots, which accelerated Americans' move to the suburbs and forever changed the demographic landscape of America's major cities.

The Prague Spring forced the Soviets to invade Czechoslovakia and Alexander Solzhenitsyn finished the Gulag Archipelago, exposing the Soviet Gulag system to the west. Both would have an indelible impact on western intellectuals and dissidents. Many who had previously identified themselves as Communists sympathetic to the Soviet Union began looking for alternative political systems and identities than those embroiled in the Cold War.

May 1968 saw a general strike and student occupation of schools in France, which forever altered the old, conservative social mores in France and throughout Europe in much the same way as the anti-war movement did in the US.

1969 wasn't any slouch, either, seeing the release of Easy Rider, which kicked off the golden age of counter culture auteur filmmaking that marked the 1970's. The gay rights movement was born when patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City fought back against police harrassment. And, of course, in August of 1969, people actually walked on the moon. So in a period of about 20 months, the world was left a much, much different place than it was when it started.

Of course, there are many such mini-epochs: 1864-5, 1948-49, 1789, etc. But those are all worthy of their own conversations.

Mark, yes, clearly '68/69 (probably the entire decade) outshines 1959 in historical importance. But hasn't the 1960s received enough attention already? For once, think of the poor, neglected decade that preceeded it.

That said, I'm really looking forward to the series of books you're going to write about 1789, 1864-65, and 1948-49. And I'm betting you'll come up with catchier titles than Kaplan did here. How's this for starters? Vive le 1789!

That would make a good book. Purely in terms of pop culture, I'd probably add 1976-77 to the list. Disco, punk, electronica and hip hop all had key moments of genesis during that time. It also simultaneously saw the birth of the blockbuster with films like Jaws, Rocky and Star Wars, as well as the release of some of the most hallowed titles in film history, i.e. Taxi Driver, Network, Grey Gardens, Annie Hall, All the President's Men, etc. Also, the first home video game systems came out.

Not a bad year to be wasting time.

Also, I'm not convinced that 1959 was even the most important year of the 50's. 1957 saw man's (or rather dog's) first foray into space, sparking a war of technological progress between the two superpowers that would culminate in the creation of NASA, satellite communications and people walking on the moon. The Vietcong attacked South Vietnam, commencing the Vietnam War. And the Civil Rights Movement was officially born as a movement when Reverends King, Abernathy and others organized to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

So there, 1959, you aren't all that!

Mark, I forgot to mention that George Reeves died in 1959. The historical importance of this event is, of course, that 47 years later it gave Ben Affleck (in Hollywoodland) yet another opportunity to ruin a perfectly good acting role.

I can sense that you're coming around now on 1959, aren't you?