If not Colorado, then where? If not 1880, then when?

Ann Parker, Monday's child here at the Lady Killers, taking a break from the big push to project deadlines (no, not fiction-related, sorry) to blog. Monday = Ann = must remember blogging.
So, I'm picking up on Jane's previous post about "If I didn't write about Rome..." to ponder the question of what place/era would I choose to write about if 1880s
Colorado wasn't available.
 I must admit a certain fascination with the 1950s. Yes, I was "around" then, but mostly focused on Mighty Mouse and Captain Satellite (?or was that the 1960s) and so on.
Maybe it's my recent discovery of the series Mad Men (okay, I understand it's set in the early '60s, but that's pretty close). I love the attention to detail in the show.

Also, for a long time, I've been interested in the Cold War, the McCarthy era, and all the duck-and-cover shenanegans. (I recall spending my duck-and-cover practice time, under mye desk, pondering whether a desk would *really* protect me from a bomb. Young as I was, the whole scenario struck me as highly unlikely, and as we waited for the "all clear" signal, I spun out fictions of scampering home over a desolate, bombed-out landscape, searching for my nuclear family in the suburban wasteland. Yeah, not exactly cheery stuff in the dark with your head on your knees.)
The Cold War and the possibility of a nuclear end-all-to-the-world cast a long shadow during the '50s even as I went about the business of being a child. I've often thought that it's a period I would like to return to in fiction. As for the place? Probably early suburbia .... somewhere. I think there's the possibility of something very noir-ish with all that.
But not now. Right now, there are two, three, deadlines to meet for clients, and then, soon as I can catch my breath, the Silver Rush and Inez's story to continue.

Comments

[Camille Minichino]

What an interesting exercise both Jane and you have generated!

I've written a novel set in the 60's, but right now it's in the witness protection program.

[Jane Finnis]

Duck-and-cover...what the heck is THAT? Some sort of air-raid protection practice? Do tell us more. We had nothing like that in Britain, and we were a lot nearer the Cold War than you were in the States, and took it seriously...except that, being young, we simultaneously thought it wouldn't actually happen to us. We were told we would only get a "four minute warning" of nuclear attack, so diving under a desk or table would have been about all there was time for. I do remember reports of the McCarthy era though, and how sinister it sounded even from a distance. I hope the West never goes down that road again, however appalling the terrorist threat. But it would make a wonderful backdrop for a mystery, all the personal pressures of loyalty, treachery, fear, and duty providing a brilliant spectrum of motives.

[Rhys Bowen]

Not being a historian by education, I don't think I'd want to tackle any history before the 20th century. Too much research. I've forgotten everything I ever knew about the 100 years war and the 30 years war etc etc.
I find the period between the wars so rich in story and I'd also like to continue into WWII.