Perspectives on Modern America: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195128648 ISBN 13: 9780195128642

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

In Perspectives on Modern America, Harvard Sitkoff brings together some of the most distinguished historians of 20th-century America to survey and analyze "The American Century". These essays offer vivid end-of-the-century snapshots of our past troubles and triumphs--of the people, ideas, events, and developments that mattered most.
Each person on the impressive list of contributors--which includes such historians as William Leuchtenburg, Paul Boyer, Lizabeth Cohen, Jacqueline Jones, Sara Evans, and Charles Payne--has written a broadly interpretive essay on a key aspect of American life and how it evolved over the course of one hundred years. These eminent historians shed light on a wide range of issues including the emergence of a mass consumer society, the United States as a major power on the international scene, and the increasing flow of power to Washington and to the presidency. Here too are astute portraits of historical turning points such as the Progressive era, the Roosevelt years of the Great Depression and Second World War, the bitter battles that ravaged American society in the 1960s, and the Reagan Revolution. And there are thoughtful essays on today's rights-based liberalism and regenerative conservatism, the persistent systems of inequality and the means employed to resist oppression, the growth and decline of organized labor, and the limits of the American welfare state.
The very best historians of the 20th-century United States have gathered in this volume to help us better understand the past 100 years. Equally important, they help us mine the past for valuable perspectives on current American society and shed light on where we may be headed in the new century.

About this title

About the Author

Harvard Sitkoff is Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author or editor of a number of books on American history, including A History of Our Time (with William Chafe), A New Deal for Blacks, The Struggle for Black Equality, and Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated. He lives in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

Review

"Comprehensive and engaging, these essays offer a challenging overview of the major themes and contradiction of 20th-century American history. A valuable collection."--William Chafe, Duke University

"This is a rare and wonderful anthology. Fifteen scholars at the top of their craft do more than provide, in vigorous prose, a splendid introduction to America's last century. Broad and empathetic, their essays also help us confront the hopes and tragedies of the new one."--Michael Kazin, Georgetown University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195128648
• ISBN 13: 9780195128642
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Sitkoff Harvard