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Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945


Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945

Paperback by Cullen, Jim (Fieldston School in New York City)

Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945

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ISBN:
9781119027348
Publication Date:
13 May 2016
Language:
English
Publisher:
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:
Wiley-Blackwell
Pages:
392 pages
Format:
Paperback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 24 - 26 May 2024
Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945

Description

DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE The United States Since 1945 Democracy and empire often seem like competing, even opposing, concepts. And yet, since the end of World War II, the United States has integrated elements of both in the process of becoming a dominant global power. Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945 explores the way democracy and empire have converged and been challenged both at home and abroad, surveying the nation's recent cultural, political and economic history. This account pays particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents in the era of the American Dream. Concise and engagingly written, Democratic Empire presents a unique analysis of US history since 1945 and the egalitarian and imperial forces that have shaped contemporary America.

Contents

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 "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 Swan Song: Reagan and the Soviets 201 41: The (First) Bush Years 203 Freely Intervening: United States as Sole Superpower 207 culture watch: The House on Mango Street (1984) 210 8 Innovation and Nostalgia: The Culture of the Eighties, 1981-1989 215 Small Transformations: The Rise of the Personal Computer 216 Consuming Pleasures: Old Fashions, New Gadgets 220 Seeing Music: Music Television, or MTV 225 Yo! African American Culture and the Birth of Hip-Hop 227 Bourne in the USA: Dissident Voices 231 culture watch: "The Message" (1982) 233 9 Prosperity and Distraction: The Post-Cold War Era, 1991-2001 238 Opposing Justice: The Hill-Thomas Imbroglio 239 Not Black and White: The Changing Colors of Race 242 Thug Life: Gangsta Rap 244 Running Saga: The O. J. Simpson Case 246 Family Matters: Demography and the Assault on Patriarchy 247 Culture War: The Fall of George Bush 250 Comeback Kid: The Rises and Falls of Bill Clinton 252 La Vida Loca: The Roaring Nineties 258 Tech Sec: Toward the Internet 260 Insulated Intervention: US Foreign Policy 264 Recount: The 2000 Election 267 culture watch: Exile in Guyville (1993) 271 Part IV Present Tense 277 10 Comfort and Dread: The American Empire in Decline, 2001-present 279 Towering Collapse: 9/11 280 Unknown Unknowns: The Iraq War 285 Spending Resources: The Debt Society 290 Bushed: Second-Term Blues 291 Downloading: Twenty-first Century Pop Culture 294 Posting: Web 2.0 298 Freely Unequal: The Tottering US Economy 299 Audacious Hopes: The Rise of Barack Obama 303 Future History: The Present as Past 310 culture watch: "Made in America," The Sopranos (2007) 311 Postlude: The Ends of the American Century 316 Index 318

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