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Prize-winning historian William Chafe here offers a vibrant chronicle of America's roller-coaster journey through the past forty years.
Since World War II, the U.S. has witnessed both stunning progress and profound social divisions. The economy boomed, suburbia blossomed, college became the norm for half the younger population, and social liberation movements swept away barriers of racial and sexual discrimination. Yet in the midst of affluence, poverty remained a blight affecting half the nation; war divided the country; and a new generation, with little faith in reform, emerged.
Proceeding from the chill of the Cold War to the heated social protests of the 1960s, Chafe shows how the conflict of forces in American life led to a turning point in 1968 and the ascendancy of a conservative coalition. Although set back by Watergate, this coalition re-emerged triumphant with the election of Ronald Reagan, even though enormous problems of inequality persisted in its midst.
In this gripping, brilliantly written narrative, Chafe brings our recent history to life. Highlighting the paradoxes of postwar reform and reaction, he cogently and passionately demonstrates how things might have been different.

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Library Journal Review

From 1941 to 1984, the United States achieved an amazing record of economic growth while witnessing the decline of its diplomacy and the fragmenting of its society. Author Chafe recounts the period in an exceptionally well-written study that bristles with telling anecdotes and quotations. His interpretation of events prior to 1968 is fairly routine but is supported with a sparkling density of statistical detail. However, after that signal date, his writing becomes more impressionistic and fails to fully account for the emergence of the New Right. The shift of traditionally liberal Jewish voters and the disaffection of blue-collar workers away from the left requires further research. For informed laypersons as well as scholars and specialists. James L. Jablonow ski, History Dept., Marquette Univ., Milwaukee (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

In this superb survey of America's recent past, Chafe focuses on the issues of race, class, and gender to determine the nature of the change and reform that has occurred in the US since 1945. Although the material Chafe presents is not new, his use of the status of women, blacks, and workers as a reference point is innovative and allows him to challenge many traditional interpretations of the period. He does not simply add women and blacks to his story; he integrates them into his historical treatment to achieve a fresh synthesis of a familiar era. Chafe's analysis of why more reform did not occur in the postwar period is convincing, as is his argument that the election of 1968 represented a genuine, though lost, opportunity to accomplish social equality and an end to war. Chafe's work is not only a historical account of the years since 1945; it evokes the soul of the period as well. Recommended for all levels of readership.-L.M. Lees, Old Dominion University