A mainstream liberal's view of US political history from the New
Frontier to the Watergate scandal. Blum (History/Yale; The
Progressive Presidents, 1980, etc.) offers a fresh, comprehensive
study of the era with special emphasis on the political trends and
thought that acted on the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
Administrations. Blum contends that the years 1961-74 were
ultimately about "the appropriate role of the government in
solving" serious national problems. As he notes in an all-too-brief
epilogue, landmark decisions made with little popular or
Congressional support by those Presidents and by narrow margins at
the Supreme Court reverberate in today's most bitter controversies,
from abortion rights to police powers. Through his "reexamination
of American liberalism," Blum shows how confused, short-sighted
foreign-policy initiatives in Vietnam, Cuba, Panama, and elsewhere
came at a cost to advances in the domestic welfare. Those advances
- the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the War on Poverty, the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, Johnson's Great Society as exemplified by
innovative educational and medical programs - however short-term or
incomplete, benefited millions of underprivileged Americans. But
Blum also argues that failure is inevitable when "a national
security state with its military priorities" is allowed to grow
alongside of and is "predatory" upon the "liberal state." By taking
a roughly chronological approach, Blum provides astute analysis of
the judicial activism of the Supreme Court, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, Kennedy's role in civil rights, the personal excesses and
quirks of Nixon and Johnson, and the evolving contradictory roles
and powers of the presidency. Blum's insightful linking of
political and societal forces to events and the Presidents who
shaped (and were shaped by) them aids immensely in a clear
understanding of a complicated period. (Kirkus Reviews)
"A vivid and masterful account of the terrible discord and violence of those years." —C. Vann Woodward Victorious in a great and "good" war, the United States in 1945 bestrode the world unchallenged, but by 1960 that dominance was eroding. For fifteen tense and troubled years, between the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 and the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974, the United States struggled to direct its domestic life and its role in a rapidly changing world.
These years are as rich as any in American history: rich in incident—from the Cuban Missile Crisis and the civil rights struggle to the antiwar movement and the opening of China; rich in personality—from Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to Henry Kissinger, Lyndon Johnson, and the Beatles. Years of Discord is a story of turning points of power and decline, conflict and idealism, of a time that has found in John Morton Blum its ablest chronicler.
"In this incisive, judicious and eminently readable book, a master historian tels the story of those tangled and turbulent years just behind us—years that shook and remolded the republic." —Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
"Once again, John Morton Blum has brought to life a critical period of American history. An illuminating account of the amazing Sixties, and an invaluable contribution to the history of our times." —Robert G. Kaiser, Washington Post
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
