Highpoint of 20th Century American Culture?

[Queequeg]

Rereading Nixonland, there's repeated references to how little people in the 60s thought of the previous decade.  However, more I thought about it the 50s seems, in retrospect, to be the highpoint of American culture in most respects.  The idea that the decade that produced Vertigo, Kind of Blue, Elvis, Night of the Hunter and Lolita represented a cultural nadir seems absurd on the face of it. 

[The Brain]

A tough one. It's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.

[CountDeMoney]

It's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.

Soundgarden doesn't care what your cheaply made, no right-angled plasterboard IKEA ass thinks.

[The Brain]

It's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.

Soundgarden doesn't care what your cheaply made, no right-angled plasterboard IKEA ass thinks.

I beg your pardon.

[Ed Anger]

The decade when women knew their place.

[Ideologue]

1980s.  Alan Moore was in his prime, and he was marketed to a largely American audience.  There's Bon Jovi and Journey.  And James Cameron and Steven Spielberg were doing cool stuff.

[Sheilbh]

I'd say 50s or 70s.

[garbon]

I picked the 90s. Only really had the 80s and 90s available unless I wanted to celebrate American culture as sexist and racist.  Picked the 90s as not only did culture go digital, it went worldwide.

[Queequeg]

I'd say 50s or 70s.

Same, with the 40s as an honorable mention. 

[Ideologue]

I did almost say 60s before I realized what was being asked.  If you look at culture overall (i.e., how people related to one another) it still might be the best decade. Music and movies and comics weren't as good, though there's many legitimate successes in those media.

[PDH]

The 1930s.

Culture is in part how it is remembered, and the Great Depression allowed America the times to remember itself in vivid detail and the ability (through the New Deal) to record those memories wholesale.  The greatness of the 1940s through the 1970s were a product of this reflection.

[katmai]

I agree with the Hippie from California.

[HVC]

20's. flappers and the cool gangsters

[mongers]

So for the first time the mass of the population having the ability to publish their wisdom on the internet counts for nothing ?

[dps]

So for the first time the mass of the population having the ability to publish their wisdom on the internet counts for nothing ?

No, it doesn't count for nothing.  The problem is that it caused an overall drop in the culture level.