Description
Book SynopsisThe Cold War, the black freedom struggle, Vietnam, the sexual revolution, conservative backlash, and the new millennium are just a few of the events that have shaped the lives of Americans since 1945.
Table of ContentsList of Figures x
Series Editors' Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Origins of the Cold War 13
1 The Atomic Bomb (1945) 13
2 The Policy of Containment (1947) 17
3 The Truman Doctrine (1947) 21
4 A Critique of Truman's Policies (1946) 24
5 A Soviet View of US Policy (1946) 27
6 The Prosecution of American Communists (1949) 31
7 The Red Scare (1950) 35
8 The Lavender Scare (1950) 37
9 A Defense of Civil Liberties (1952) 40
Chapter 2 Postwar Society and Culture 43
1 The Growth of Suburbia (1949) 43
2 A Critique of Suburbia (1962) 47
3 Consumer Culture and the Home (1947) 49
4 Women's Roles (1950) 50
5 Men's Roles (1956) 54
6 The Beat Generation (1956) 58
Chapter 3 The Black Freedom Struggle 62
1 A Protest against Bus Segregation (1954) 62
2 The Southern Manifesto (1956) 64
3 Remembering the Sit-In Demonstrations (1998) 66
4 Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nonviolent Direct Action (1963) 72
5 Women in the Civil Rights Movement (1964) 77
6 Black Nationalism (1964) 80
7 Economic Justice (1966) 84
Chapter 4 Vietnam 88
1 The "Falling Domino" Principle (1954) 88
2 Escalation of the War (1964) 89
3 A Defense of the War (1965) 91
4 Experiencing the War (1965--70) 94
5 The Tet Offensive (1968) 101
6 Kent State Shootings (1970) 102
7 Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971) 103
Chapter 5 Politics and Protest in the 1960s 107
1 The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) 107
2 Young Americans for Freedom (1960) 109
3 Students for a Democratic Society (1962) 110
4 The Hippie Counterculture (1967) 114
5 The Great Society (1965) 117
6 Cesar Chavez and la Causa (1966) 120
7 The American Indian Movement (2004) 123
8 Environmental Awareness (1962) 126
9 The Environmental Movement (1971) 131
Chapter 6 Gender and Sexuality in the 1960s and 1970s 135
1 Second Wave Feminism (1963) 135
2 The National Organization for Women (1966) 140
3 Radical Feminism (1973) 144
4 The Gay Liberation Movement (1969) 148
5 Abortion Rights (1973) 152
6 Opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (1977) 159
7 The Pro-Family Movement (1977) 162
Chapter 7 Conservative Ascendance 167
1 The 1968 Election (1968) 167
2 The Crisis of Confidence (1979) 170
3 The Religious Right (1980) 173
4 A Critique of the Religious Right (1982) 176
5 The Second American Revolution (1985) 180
6 Life in the Rust Belt (1987) 184
7 The Iran--Contra Investigation (1987) 187
8 The End of Big Government (1996) 193
Chapter 8 Society in the New Millennium 198
1 Recent Immigration (2006) 198
2 Organized Labor and "Undocumented" Immigrants (2000) 203
3 Affirmative Action (2003) 206
4 The Culture Wars (2003) 211
5 Family Income (1947--2003) 216
6 Hurricane Katrina: A View from New Orleans (2005) 218
7 Hurricane Katrina: A View from the White House (2006) 220
8 The War on Terrorism (2007) 224
9 The Internet and Political Activism (2004) 225
Bibliography 229
Index 236
