Synopses & Reviews
This comprehensive, widely-read anthology presents cogent and provocative articles from differing political perspectives on major issues in post-World War II America. The third edition is considerably expanded to include new selections on the origins of the Cold War, the struggle of African-Americans for equality, the feminist movement, and Vietnam. The final section examining prospects for America in the 1990s has been completely revised, offering articles on current topics such as the urban underclass, the "greenhouse effect," nuclear arms control, and changing relations with the Soviet Union. In addition to articles by leading historians the editors have chosen first-person accounts by participants in each of the issues under discussion, from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from the Birmingham Jail to Mikhail Gorbachev's historic speech to the United Nations. With lively introductions to each section providing a context for the articles, this book helps readers make sense of the tumultuous world of our time.
Synopsis
This popular and comprehensive anthology presents cogent, provocative articles from differing political perspectives on major issues in post-War America. This fifth edition has been considerably revised to incorporate up-to-date articles on the most significant issues faring contemporary America, including essays on affirmative action, Generation X, and the crises of post-Cold War foreign policy.
Synopsis
This popular and comprehensive anthology presents cogent, provocative articles from differing political perspectives on major issues in post-War America. In addition to articles by leading historians, the editors have assembled first-person accounts of various issues by those who have contributed to the shaping of America's rich history, including Joseph McCarthy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bill Clinton. This fifth edition has been considerably revised to incorporate up-to-date articles on the most significant issues facing contemporary America, including essays on affirmative action, Generation X, and the crises of post-Cold War foreign policy. With lively and enlightening introductions to each section and headnotes providing a context for the articles, A History of Our Time helps students make sense of the past fifty years in America's sometimes tumultuous but always fascinating history.
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: The Cold War Abroad and At Home
Introduction
Truman's Cold War Policies, Thomas G. Paterson
The Need to Contain Soviet Expansion, George F. Keenan
Are We Only Paying Lip Service to Peace?, Henry A. Wallace
American Firmness vs. Soviet Aggression, Clark Clifford
The Truman Doctrine, Harry S. Truman
NSC-68: A Report to the National Security Council
HUAC Investigates Hollywood
The Internal Communist Menace, Joseph R. McCarthy
The Age of "McCarthyism", Ellen Schrecker
Part 2: The Politics of the Affluent Society
Introduction
The Ideology of the Liberal Consensus, Godfrey Hodgson
A Revisionist View of the Ike Age, Stephen E. Ambrose
Reevaluating JFK's Presidency, Lance Morrow
Losing Ground: Discredited Liberalism, Charles Murray
Part 3: Civil Rights
Introduction
So Much History, So Much Future: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Second Coming of America, Vincent Harding
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Message to the Grass Roots, Malcolm X
From Protest to Politics, Bayard Rustin
Part 4: Feminism
Introduction
Women's Consciousness and the Southern Black Movement, Sara Evans
Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory, Bell Hooks
Women Against Feminism, Rebecca Klatch
Roe v. Wade, 1973, Justice Harry A. Blackmun
The Emergence of Gay Liberation, Estelle Freedman and John D'Emilio
Part 5: Vietnam and the Years of Polarization
Introduction
Vietnam in Historical Perspective, John Garry Clifford
Causes of the War, Leslie Gelb
One Morning in the War, Richard Hammer
The Port Huron Statement, Students for a Democratic Society
"Dump Johnson", William Chafe
Bill Clinton Draft Letter, William Jefferson Clinton
You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows, Karin Ashley et. al.
Up Against the Ivy Wall, Jerry Avorn et. al.
Rise and Fall of a Counterculture, Allen J. Matusow
The Forgotten American, Peter Schrag
Part 6: Politics of the 1970s and 1980s
Introduction
Watergate, Jonathan Schell
America's Crisis of Confidence, Jimmy Carter
"The Second American Revolution", Ronald W. Reagan
Reagan's America: A Capital Offense, Kevin P. Phillips
Part 7: Where do we go from here?
Introduction
As the World Turns, Robert B. Reich
The Urban Underclass in Advanced Industrial Society, Williams Julius Wilson
Article on Ward Connerly, Barry Bearak
Great X-pectations
Suggestions for Further Reading