The Unfinished Journey America Since World War II

by Chafe, William H.

• ISBN13: 9780195116182
• ISBN10: 0195116186
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This popular and classic text chronicles America's roller-coaster journey through the decades since World War II. Considering both the paradoxes and the possibilities of post-war America, Chafe portrays the significant cultural and political themes which have colored our country's past andpresent, including issues of race, class, gender, foreign policy, and economic and social reform. Chafe examines such subjects as the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the origins and the end of the Cold War, the culture of the 1970s, the Reagan years, and the Perot phenomenon and the rise ofthe independent third party as a major force in presidential politics. This new edition has been updated to include an entirely new chapter on the Clinton presidency as well as an expanded discussion of the recent cultural and political issues facing America today. A thoroughly revised epilogueoffers a compelling and controversial final commentary on Americas past and its future. Brilliantly written by a prize-winning historian, this fourth edition of The Unfinished Journey continues to be an essential text for all students of recent American history.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
The War Years	3	(28)
Origins of the Cold War	31	(23)
Truman and the Cold War	54	(25)
``The Other Half of the Walnut''	79	(32)
Social Reform and Activism in the Postwar Years
The Paradox of Change	111	(35)
American Society in the Postwar Years
The Civil Rights Movement	146	(31)
``The Gods Bring Threads to Webs Begun''
John F. Kennedy	177	(44)
The Reality and the Myth
LBJ	221	(26)
The Trial of Consensus
Vietnam--The Early Years	247	(26)
``Lyndon's War''	273	(29)
Coming Apart at Home	302	(41)
1968	343	(38)
``Bringing Us Together''	381	(49)
New Rules, Old Realities	430	(40)
The Continuing Intersection of Gender, Class, and Race in the Seventies
The Reagan Years	470	(27)
The 1990s	497	(40)
A Referendum on the Post-World War II Years
Epilogue	537	(6)
Bibliographical Essay	543	(16)
Index	559