Synopses & Reviews
Brilliantly written by a prize-winning historian, The Unfinished Journey, Eighth Edition, considers both the paradoxes and the possibilities of postwar America. William H. Chafe portrays the significant cultural and political themes that have colored our country's past and present, including issues of race, class, gender, foreign policy, and economic and social reform. He 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 rise of the New Right, the events of September 11th and their aftermath, and various presidencies.
Review
"The Unfinished Journey has a strong narrative momentum, creating a desire to 'find out what happens next.'"--Jeffrey Crane, Sam Houston State University
"The Unfinished Journey offers a compelling and comprehensive narrative while also offering an analytical element missing in most textbooks."--Robyn Rosen, Marist College
About the Author
William H. Chafe is Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of History at Duke University. He is the author or coeditor of several books, including
A History of Our Time: Readings on Postwar America, Eighth Edition (OUP, 2011) and
The Rise and Fall of the American Century: The United States from 1890-2009 (OUP, 2009). He is a former president of the Organization of American Historians and his books have been recognized with the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award (1981), the Sidney Hillman Book Award (1994), and the Lillian Smith Book Award (2003).
Table of Contents
Preface
1. The War Years
2. Origins of the Cold War
3. Truman and the Cold War
4. "The Other Half of the Walnut"
Social Reform and Activism in the Postwar Years
5. The Paradox of Change
American Society in the Postwar Years
6. The Civil Rights Movement
"The Gods Bring Threads to Webs Begun"
7. John F. Kennedy
The Reality and the Myth
8. LBJ
The Trial of Consensus
9. Vietnam-The Early Years
10. "Lyndon's War"
11. Coming Apart at Home
12. 1968
13. "Bringing Us Together"
14. An Era of Political Malaise
15. A Divided Culture, a Divided Society
16. The Reagan Years
17. The 1990s
A Referendum on the Post-World War II Years
18. 2000 and Beyond
19. Barack Obama
A Utopian Vision Confronts Political Reality
Epilogue
Bibliographical Essay
Index