Flocked: My Grandparents, Midcentury America & Plastic Flamingos

The heroic tales of the Greatest Generation of World War II, and the pain of the Baby Boomer survivors of the war in Vietnam, have left the Silent Generation of the Korean War often forgotten. This is a glimpse into that generation’s midcentury plastic world, from service in Korea and the South Pacific to leisure life spent on the cut lawns of middle-class suburbia. It’s a short, birdseye account of backyard barbecues, consumer confidence, days spent at Disneyland, sunglasses, and Tupperware. Flocked explores middle America in the middle of the 20th century through the beady eyes of the plastic flamingos that have survived since 1957 on trimmed lawns and in popular culture well into the 21st century.