Patrick White follows his best-selling “The Tree of Man” with his 1957 novel “Voss,” based on the exploits of Australia’s vanished explorer F. W. L. Leichhardt.

In 1957, Mao Zedong admits to 800,000 executions during the period from 1949 to 1954.

Opponents claim much higher numbers.

Marine Lee Harvey Oswald is assigned to the high-security US base at Atsugi, Japan, one of the largest CIA stations in the world, where the ultra-secret U-2 spy planes are launched; in 1957, he shoots himself in elbow.

Fighting in Oman between the forces of the imam and those of the sultan continues throughout the 1950s, as remnants of the imamate's supporters, operate from strongholds in the Mount Al-Akhdar massif of the Western Al-Hajar.

In 1957, forces loyal to Said ibn Taimur capture the town of Nazwah, which the Al Sa'id have not controlled since the nineteenth century.

Lebanon's parliamentary elections of 1957 allegedly are manipulated to produce a Parliament favorable to the reelection of Camille Chamoun.

The Druze have maintained through almost a thousand years of turbulent history their close-knit identity and distinctive faith, founded in eleventh-century Fatimid Egypt.

Now numbering more than two hundred thousand, they live mostly in Lebanon, ...

Israel's Druze, who live in villages in Galilee and around Mount Carmel, have traditionally formed a closed, tight-knit community and practiced their secretive religion.

Though Israeli Druze maintain contact with coreligionists in Lebanon and Syria, members of each group adhere to the authority of the country of their residence.

In 1957, Israel recognizes the Druze as a separate Arab community (and will eventually permit Israeli Druze to serve in the armed forces).

The operations of EOKA have been reduced by 1957, but on the other hand, the Turkish-Cypriot minority, led by Fazil Küçük, expresses alarm and demands either retrocession to Turkey or partition.

Public opinion in Greece and Turkey rallies in support of the two communities, respectively, resulting in riots and the expulsion of Greek residents in Turkey.

The two sides reach no solution even with frequent recourse to the United Nations.

The 1957 Treaty of Rome establishes western Europe’s Common Market.

The East Pakistan legislature votes unanimously for autonomy in all matters except foreign affairs, defense, and currency.

The country is to hold its first complete general election in 1958, but a dispute over the basis of the constituencies leads to Suhrawardy's resignation.

His successors prove ineffective, and the legislative process comes to a halt.

The threat to the stability of the Pakistan government gradually increases, stemming from continuing economic difficulties, frequent cabinet crises, and widespread political corruption.

Movement toward liberalization in the Soviet bloc stops cold with the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the Soviet invasion that crushes it.

This is followed by a new Soviet campaign against Tito, aimed at blaming the Yugoslavs for inspiring the Hungarian insurgents, …