Quest for identity : America since 1945 / Randall Bennett Woods.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Woods, Randall Bennett, 1944- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics, American.

United States--History--1945-.

United States.

United States--Social conditions--1945-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 593 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Quest for Identity, published in 2005, is a survey of the American experience from the close of World War II, through the Cold War and 9/11, to the present. It helps students understand postwar American history through a seamless narrative punctuated with accessible analyses. Randall Woods addresses and explains the major themes that punctuate the period: the Cold War, the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements, and other great changes that led to major realignments of American life. While political history is emphasized, Woods also discusses in equal measure cultural matters and socio-economic problems. Dramatic new patterns of immigration and migration characterized the period as much as the counterculture, the growth of television and the Internet, the interstate highway system, rock and roll, and the exploration of space. The pageantry, drama, irony, poignancy and humor of the American journey since World War II are all here.

Contents:

The republic in transition : demobilization and reconversion

The origins of the Cold War

Staying the course : Dwight D. Eisenhower and the politics of moderation

Containing Communism and managing the military-industrial complex : the Eisenhower administration and the Cold War

Capitalism and conformity : American society, 1945-1960

Liberalism reborn : John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the politics of activism

The wages of globalism : foreign affairs during the Kennedy-Johnson era

The dividing of America : Vietnam, Black power, the counterculture, and the election of 1968

Realpolitik or imperialism? : Nixon, Kissinger, and American foreign policy

The limits of expediency : Richard M. Nixon and the American presidency

From confidence to anxiety : American society, 1960-1980

Governing in a malaise : the presidencies of Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter

The culture of narcissism : the Reagan era

In search of balance : America into the twenty-first century.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-14008-0

1-280-42227-0

0-511-81402-X

0-511-18125-6

0-511-11149-5

0-511-19785-3

0-511-29899-4

0-511-11116-9

OCLC:

171137072