The Rise and Fall of the American Century The United States from 1890-2009

by Chafe, William H.

• ISBN13: 9780195382624
• ISBN10: 0195382625
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

From William H. Chafe, the best-selling author of The Unfinished Journey, comes a new text that offers in-depth and enlightening coverage of the history of the United States in the twentieth century. The Rise and Fall of the American Century: The United States from 1890-2010 describes the rise--and potential fall--of the U.S., a nation more powerful, more wealthy, and more dominant than any in human history. It also acknowledges the persistent challenges the U.S. has faced and continues to face--inequalities of race, gender, and income that contradict its vision of itself as "a land of opportunity." Examining the evolution of the United States since 1890, The Rise and Fall of the American Century chronicles the varying mood of the country through its changing presidencies, from the rise of the metropolis and Teddy Roosevelt in the 1890s to the turbulent era of the Bush administration at the beginning of the twenty-first century. By analyzing the shifting moods and social and political upheavals (both at home and abroad) and the United States's reactions to these events, the book seeks to understand how the country both achieved its vision for itself in some ways but failed to realize it in others. Working in a political framework, Chafe also provides a strong balance of social and cultural history, touching on the African-American, Latino, and Asian communities, the West, and the changing status of women. The book's epilogue discusses important economic and political events through 2008, including the financial crisis and the 2008 Presidential Election.

Author Biography

William H. Chafe is Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History at Duke University. He is the author of eight other books, including The Unfinished Journey, Sixth Edition (OUP, 2006), Private Lives/Public Consequences: Personality and Politics in Modern America (2005), Never Stop Running: Allard Lowenstein and the Struggle to Save American Liberalism (1998), and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom (1981), and the coeditor of A History of Our Time, Seventh Edition (OUP, 2007).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: The 1890s, a Preview of the Next Century	p. 1
The Dawn of Progressivism	p. 28
America and the World	p. 48
The Roaring (?) Twenties	p. 66
FDR and the New Deal	p. 88
World War II: 1941-1945	p. 114
The Cold War and the Politics of Anti-Communism: 1945-1952	p. 133
Ike and the Affluent Society: An Age of Contradictions	p. 156
From Camelot to Fragmentation: The 1960s	p. 182
Polarization, Paranoia, and a New Conservatism: America in the 1970s	p. 215
Morning in America: Ronald Reagan	p. 239
The End of One War, the Start of Another: Politics, Culture, and the Specter of Terrorism in the 1990s	p. 261
The End of the American Century? The First Decade of the New Millennium	p. 287
Epilogue	p. 309
Index	p. 311
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