A brief survey of U.S. history since the end of World War II, focusing on popular beliefs, fears, and hopes that have shaped American culture and history over the last eight decades. _ Explores the ways in which the American people's perceptions of power were as significant as the realities of that power, and how popular beliefs shaped the events of post-WWII America _ Gives particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents, exploring their role in American society _ Features "Culture Watch" chapter sidebars, which help students delve into particular classic works of…mehr
A brief survey of U.S. history since the end of World War II, focusing on popular beliefs, fears, and hopes that have shaped American culture and history over the last eight decades. _ Explores the ways in which the American people's perceptions of power were as significant as the realities of that power, and how popular beliefs shaped the events of post-WWII America _ Gives particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents, exploring their role in American society _ Features "Culture Watch" chapter sidebars, which help students delve into particular classic works of American culture _ Intermixes political and social history along with cultural history to provide a comprehensive narrative
Jim Cullen is chair of the History Department of the Fieldston School in New York. He is the author of numerous books, among them The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation (2003) and Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write and Think about History, Third Edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2016). He lives in Hastings on Hudson, New York, with his wife and four children.
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Acknowledgments xi
Prelude: The Imperial Logic of the American Dream xiii
Part I The Postwar Decades 1
1 Victory and Anxiety: World War and Cold War, 1945-1962 3
Colony to Colonizer: American Rise to Globalism 4
Wages of War: Triumph over Germany and Japan 5
First Frost: Dawn of the Cold War 9
Seeing Red: The Cold War at Home 12
Playing with Dominoes: Cold War Hot Spots 17
Cold War Showdown: Cuba 19
culture watch: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955/1956) 23
2 Conformity and Rebellion: American Culture and Politics, 1945-1963 27
Best Worst Time: Early Postwar Years 28
Boom! The Postwar Economy Explodes 29
Rising Suburbs: Life on the Crabgrass Frontier 32
Restless in the Promised Land: Suburbia's Critics 35
Free Movement: Early Civil Rights Struggles 40
Big Bangs: 1950s Youth Culture 45
culture watch: A Raisin in the Sun (1959) 49
Part II The Long 1960s 53
3 Confidence and Agitation: The American Empire at High Tide, 1960-1965 55
Dishing: The Kitchen Debate as Domestic Squabble 56
American Prince: JFK 58
Grand Expectations: The Birth of "the Sixties" 60
Overcoming: The Civil Rights Movement Crests 61
Voices: Popular Culture of the Early 1960s 64
Countercurrents: Civil Rights Skeptics 65
Lone Star Rising: The LBJ Moment 69
Flanking Maneuver: Johnson in Vietnam 73
Fissures: Democratic Fault Lines 75
culture watch: "The Times They Are A?]Changin'" (1964) 80
4 Fulfillment and Frustration: An Empire in Conflict, 1965-1974 86
Over the Moon: Winning the Space Race 87
Imperial Quagmire: The Vietnam Wars 89
Down from the Mountaintop: The Civil Rights Movement 93
Turning Point: 1968 96
Right Rising: The Return of Richard Nixon 99
Women's Work: The Feminist Movement 102
Rainbows: Rights Revolutions 105
Grim Peace: Endgame in Vietnam 108
Crooked Justice: The Triumph and Fall of Nixon 109
culture watch: Easy Rider (1969) 113
5 Experimentation and Exhaustion: Political Culture of the Sixties, 1965-1975 119
The Great Divide: Establishment and Counterculture 120
(de)Construction Sites: The Rise of Postmodernism 125
System Failure: The Reorganization of Hollywood 126
Medium Dominant: Television 128
Fit Print: Publishing 130
Kingdom of Rebels: The Reign of Rock 132
culture watch: "Chuckles the Clown Bites the Dust," The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975) 140
Interlude 144
6 Reassessment and Nostalgia: The American Empire in the Age of Limits, 1973-1980 144
1973: Hinge of American History 145
Apocalypse Now: The New Gloom 150
Depressingly Decent: Ford and Carter 153
Solitary Refinement: The Me Decade 159
Body Politics: Gender and Its Discontents 163
Rebellion and Revival: Pop Culture of the Late Seventies 166
Right Signal: The Conservative Turn 168
culture watch: Taxi Driver (1976) 175
Part III Indian Summer 181
7 Revival and Denial: The American Empire on Borrowed Time, 1981-1991 183
Right Man: The Age of Reagan 184
Making the Cut: Reaganomics 187
Breaking Ice: Reagan and the Cold War 191
Headwinds: Second?]Term Blues 193
For God's Sake: Social Conservatism 196
Left Ahead: The Legacy of the Sixties in the Eighties 197
