postwar

A roving, sumptuous narrative entrenched in the labyrinthine relationships of a small southern Italian town, “My Brilliant Friend” follows Lila and Elena, schoolgirls growing up in postwar Naples.

Certainly nothing like it has been seen since 1948, when the United States solidified its postwar leadership and banked global goodwill with the Marshall Plan, which rebuilt war-ravaged Europe, including former enemies.

“Streetcar” presents a portrait of postwar America in which masculinity was testing how far it could outrun the determinations of class.

Like the American superpower or not, when it existed during the heyday of the postwar world it did not do a bad job in maintaining a semblance of order.

I am 72 years old and have lived my life in the benevolent shadow of the postwar order.