IT & Literature

?

Personal Computers

  • Massive growth in sales of computers
  • Competition between Microsoft and Apple
  • Bill Gates launched Microsoft in 1975
    • Launched 20 Nov 1985
    • Dominated software and computer electronics development
  • Major rival was Apple
    • Established by Steve Jobs, Wozniak & Wayne
    • Founded in 1976.
    • Best known for hardware e.g. Mac computers.
1 of 4

Internet & Gaming

  • 1991: the University of Minnesota created the first user-friendly internet interface
  • Delphi: the first national commercial online service to provide free internet to its subscribers
  • June 1998: Windows 98 released with browser integrated
    • Allowed Bill Gates to take advantage of the enormous growth of the internet
  • Significant pastime for the younger generation
  • 1971Computer Space became the first commercially viable video game
  • Massive growth of computer games amongst significant technological growth
  • 1980s: Nintendo introduced the first game console - NES, followed by Sega Mega Drive, Playstation & Xbox in 2001
2 of 4

Impact on US society

  • Drastic impact on culture & commerce
  • Rise of "e-mail"; text-based communication
  • More leisure time became filled with social networking
3 of 4

The Great American Novel

  • Literature was split between the search for the Great American Novel and counter-culture literature set out to challenge US conversation.
  • Quest to find the novel that defined being an "American"
  • Built on pre-WWII writers e.g. F. Scott Fitzgeralds's "The Great Gatsby"
  • 30 years' post-war examples:
    • Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird"
      • Focused on issues of racial & social inequality, and ****
    • J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"
      • Focused on the madness of American society & teenage rebellion
4 of 4

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar History resources:

See all History resources »See all The USA - twentieth century change resources »