Mid-Century Moments: Events Dealing With the Days of Our (20th Century) Lives

By Troy Segal

Whether you’re a history buff or you lived through it the first time, you’ll be fascinated by these talks, readings and screenings that conjure up eras and individuals from the middle decades of the 20th century. Here they are, in roughly historical order:

From the cover of Corman’s My Old Neighborhood Remembered

Reading and discussing his new memoir, novelist Avery Corman (Kramer vs. Kramer) waxes nostalgic for his old nabe — The Bronx in the 1940s and 1950s — in this talk at the 92nd Street Y, Sept. 16 … A week later at the Y, on Sept. 22, author Craig Nelson (Rocket Men) traces the history and key players of the Atomic Era, as the decades following World War II have been dubbed.

We don’t know if the 1960s can be completely summed up by “Sex, Drugs, and Rock N’ Roll” — but certainly those three elements played a large part, as indicated in this final episode of CNN’s series, The Sixties, which the Paley Center for Media is screening, followed by a panel discussion, Aug. 5 … Hunter College professor Joseph P. Viteritti lectures on John Lindsay’s years as mayor during the ’60s — a decade that changed the city forever — in, fittingly, one of the city’s parks: the Bryant Park Reading Room, Aug. 6 … A half-century on, the Vietnam War remains a potent, poignant subject. Col. Gregory Daddis, professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy, reassesses America’s military strategy in the conflict at the 92nd Street Y on Sept. 3.

Do you remember wondering what President Richard Nixon knew and when he knew it? John Dean, the White House Counsel during the 1970s Watergate scandal, talks about old secrets and new revelations at Barnes & Noble–Upper West Side, July 30 … And how did the fall of Nixon lead to the rise of Ronald Reagan? Author Rick Perlstein (Nixonland) explains the links in a lecture at Hunter College, Aug. 6.