Books > History > American history
|
Buy Now
Decade of Nightmares - The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America (Paperback)
Loot Price: R884
Discovery Miles 8 840
|
|
Decade of Nightmares - The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America (Paperback)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
Why did the youthful optimism and openness of the sixties give way
to Ronald Reagan and the spirit of conservative reaction - a spirit
that remains ascendant today? Drawing on a wide array of sources -
including tabloid journalism, popular fiction, movies, and
television shows - Philip Jenkins argues that a remarkable
confluence of panics, scares, and a few genuine threats created a
climate of fear that led to the conservative reaction. He
identifies 1975 to 1986 as the watershed years. During this time,
he says, there was a sharp increase in perceived threats to our
security at home and abroad. At home, America seemed to be
threatened by monstrous criminals - serial killers, child abusers,
Satanic cults, and predatory drug dealers, to name just a few. On
the international scene, we were confronted by the Soviet Union and
its evil empire, by OPEC with its stranglehold on global oil, by
the Ayatollahs who made hostages of our diplomats in Iran.
Increasingly, these dangers began to be described in terms of moral
evil.Rejecting the radicalism of the '60s, which many saw as the
source of the crisis, Americans adopted a more pessimistic
interpretation of human behavior, which harked back to much older
themes in American culture. This simpler but darker vision
ultimately brought us Ronald Reagan and the ascendancy of the
political Right, which more than two decades later shows no sign of
loosening its grip. Writing in his usual crisp and witty prose,
Jenkins offers a truly original and persuasive account of a period
that continues to fascinate the American public. It is bound to
captivate anyone who lived through this period, as well as all
those who want to understand the forces that transformed - and
continue to define - the American political landscape.
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!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.