Synopses & Reviews
By the end of the 1980s, many Americans looked at the state of the nation with a renewed optimism. America was the world's only superpower, Communism had been defeated, the economic misery and inflation of the late 1970s and early 1980s had given way to prosperity and vast global wealth, and a new swashbuckling patriotism had entered into the public imagination. This patriotism and optimism was personified by an enduring American president--Ronald Wilson Reagan. The essays in this volume revisit the 1980s in order to examine the factors that contributed to Ronald Reagan's political and cultural triumphs, provide an assessment of the political, social, and economic substance and legacy of his policies--not just for Americans but for the shape of the world order.
Review
“The essays in this splendid collection offer a nuanced, up-to-date understanding not only of Ronald Reagan but also of larger social, economic, and political trends of the 1980s--and of their legacies.”--James T. Patterson, author of Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore
Synopsis
By the end of the 1980s, many Americans looked at the state of the nation with a renewed optimism, which was personified by an enduring American president - Ronald Wilson Reagan. The essays in this volume revisit the 1980s in order to examine the factors that contributed to his political and cultural triumphs and assess his legacy.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Reagan and the 1980s--Cheryl Hudson and Gareth Davies * PART I: PERCEPTIONS * Ronald Reagan: Communicating the America Within--Dan Rather * Only an Actor: Memories of a Reagan Biopic--Godfrey Hodgson * "Just Say No": Drug Abuse Policy in the Reagan Administration--Peter G. Bourne * Ronald Reagan and the End of the Cold War--Jack F. Matlock, Jr. * PART II: POLITICS AND POLICIES * Reagan, Nuclear Weapons, and the End of the Cold War--Simon Head * Reaganomics and its Legacy--Iwan Morgan * African American Protest during the Reagan Years: Forging New Agendas, Defending Old Victories--Stephen Tuck * Reagan's Religious Right: The Unlikely Alliance between Southern Evangelicals and a California Conservative--Daniel K. Williams * Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party: Responses to Realignment--Robert Mason * PART III: LEGACIES * The Baptist and the Messiah: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher--Dominic Sandbrook * Transforming the Presidency: The Administration of Ronald Reagan--Joel D. Aberbach * The Road to Mount Rushmore: The Conservative Commemoration Crusade for Ronald Reagan--Niels Bjerre-Poulsen * Toward a Historiography of Reagan and the 1980s: Why Have We Done Such a Lousy Job?--Gil Troy * Epilogue: Ronald Reagan and the Historians--M. J. Heale