Democratic Empire

DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE
DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE

The United States Since 1945

Democracy and empire often seem like competing, even opposing, concepts. And yet,
since the end of World War II, the United States has integrated elements of both in the process of becoming a dominant global power. Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945 explores the way democracy and empire have converged and been challenged both at home and abroad, surveying the nation's recent cultural, political and economic history. This account pays particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents in the era of the American Dream. Concise and engagingly written, Democratic Empire presents a unique analysis of US history since 1945 and the egalitarian and imperial forces that have shaped contemporary America.

Autorentext

Jim Cullen is chair of the History Department of the Fieldston School in New York. He is the author of numerous books, among them The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation (2003) and *Essaying the Past: How to Read, Write and Think about History, Third Edition (*Wiley Blackwell, 2016). He lives in Hastings on Hudson, New York, with his wife and four children.

Klappentext

Throughout its history, an enduring, though often challenged, belief in the American Dream has provided the United States with a strong national identity. The force of the Dream has functioned like an electric current, surging in ways that have been both channeled and impeded in the pursuit of national goals. Alternating Currents: The United States since 1945 explores the perceptions as well as the realities of that power at home and abroad. The narrative incorporates cultural, political, and social history to provide a comprehensive narrative of recent America, and gives particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents of the times. Concise and engagingly written, Alternating Currents presents a unique analysis of U.S. history since 1945 and the energies that have shaped contemporary America.

Zusammenfassung
DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE The United States Since 1945 Democracy and empire often seem like competing, even opposing, concepts. And yet, since the end of World War II, the United States has integrated elements of both in the process of becoming a dominant global power. Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945 explores the way democracy and empire have converged and been challenged both at home and abroad, surveying the nation's recent cultural, political and economic history. This account pays particular attention to mass media, the fine arts, and intellectual currents in the era of the American Dream. Concise and engagingly written, Democratic Empire presents a unique analysis of US history since 1945 and the egalitarian and imperial forces that have shaped contemporary America.

Inhalt
Acknowledgments xi

Prelude: The Imperial Logic of the American Dream xiii

Part I The Postwar Decades 1

1 Victory and Anxiety: World War and Cold War, 19451962 3

Colony to Colonizer: American Rise to Globalism 4

Wages of War: Triumph over Germany and Japan 5

First Frost: Dawn of the Cold War 9

Seeing Red: The Cold War at Home 12

Playing with Dominoes: Cold War Hot Spots 17

Cold War Showdown: Cuba 19

culture watch: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955/1956) 23

2 Conformity and Rebellion: American Culture and Politics, 19451963 27

Best Worst Time: Early Postwar Years 28

Boom! The Postwar Economy Explodes 29

Rising Suburbs: Life on the Crabgrass Frontier 32

Restless in the Promised Land: Suburbia's Critics 35

Free Movement: Early Civil Rights Struggles 40

Big Bangs: 1950s Youth Culture 45

culture watch: A Raisin in the Sun (1959) 49

Part II The Long 1960s 53

3 Confidence and Agitation: The American Empire at High Tide, 19601965 55

Dishing: The Kitchen Debate as Domestic Squabble 56

American Prince: JFK 58

Grand Expectations: The Birth of "Sixties" 60

Overcoming: The Civil Rights Movement Crests 61

Voices: Popular Culture of the Early 1960s 64

Countercurrents: Civil Rights Skeptics 65

Lone Star Rising: The LBJ Moment 69

Flanking Maneuver: Johnson in Vietnam 73

Fissures: Democratic Fault Lines 75

culture watch: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1964) 80

4 Fulfillment and Frustration: An Empire in Conflict, 19651974 86

Over the Moon: Winning the Space Race 87

Imperial Quagmire: The Vietnam Wars 89

Down from the Mountaintop: The Civil Rights Movement 93

Turning Point: 1968 96

Right Rising: The Return of Richard Nixon 99

Women's Work: The Feminist Movement 102

Rainbows: Rights Revolutions 105

Grim Peace: Endgame in Vietnam 108

Crooked Justice: The Triumph and Fall of Nixon 109

culture watch: Easy Rider (1969) 113

5 Experimentation and Exhaustion: Political Culture of the Sixties, 19651975 119

The Great Divide: Establishment and Counterculture 120

(de)Construction Sites: The Rise of Postmodernism 125

System Failure: The Reorganization of Hollywood 126

Medium Dominant: Television 128

Fit Print: Publishing 130

Kingdom of Rebels: The Reign of Rock 132

culture watch: "Chuckles the Clown Bites the Dust," The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975) 140

Interlude 144

6 Reassessment and Nostalgia: The American Empire in the Age of Limits, 19731980 144

1973: Hinge of American History 145

Apocalypse Now: The New Gloom 150

Depressingly Decent: Ford and Carter 153

Solitary Refinement: The Me Decade 159

Body Politics: Gender and Its Discontents 163

Rebellion and Revival: Pop Culture of the Late Seventies 166

Right Signal: The Conservative Turn 168

culture watch: Taxi Driver (1976) 175

Part III Indian Summer 181

7 Revival and Denial: The American Empire on Borrowed Time, 19811991 183

Right Man: The Age of Reagan 184

Making the Cut: Reaganomics 187

Breaking Ice: Reagan and the Cold War 191

Headwinds: Second?]Term Blues 193

For God's Sake: Social Conservatism 196

Left Ahead: The Legacy of the Sixties in the Eighties 197

Swan Song: Reagan and the Soviets 201

41: The (First) Bush Years 203

Freely Intervening: United States as Sole Superpower 207

culture watch: The House on Mango Street (1984) 210

8 Innovation and Nostalgia: The Culture of the Eighties, 19811989 215

Small Transformations: The Rise of the Personal Computer 216 Consuming Pleasu...