Weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a portrait of America from post-WWII to Watergate, focusing on the escalation of expectations as the era progressed. Discusses events and trends including the Korean war, McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, feminism, the Kennedy and King assassinations, the Vietnam War, mass consumer culture, and Nixon's resignation. Includes b&w photos. For general readers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In a continuously challenging, stirring history of postwar America, Brown University history professor Patterson charts Americans' ever-widening postwar expectations about the capacity of the U.S. to create abundance and opportunity. Spurred by the civil rights movement's egalitarianism and idealism, many groups‘including labor unions, feminists, Native and Hispanic Americans, farm organizations, the poor and the elderly‘engaged in a ``rights evolution'' that peaked in the mid-1980s amid political backlash, economic stagnation and barriers of class and prejudice. A corollary theme is the souring of the widespread belief that the U.S. had the economic and military means to control the behavior of other nations. Bursting with shrewd analyses and fresh assessments of people and events (McCarthyism, the Beats, the growth of suburbia, Vietnam, etc.), Patterson's primarily political but also cultural and social history gores both liberal and conservative sacred cows. He blames John F. Kennedy's personal approach to foreign affairs for escalating tension with the Soviet Union. And he describes Nixon as ``a very humorless, tightly controlled man'' who set the FBI to destroy the Black Panthers and who ``put in 12- to 16-hour days, in part because he was unable to delegate authority.'' (Feb.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Patterson (history, Brown Univ.) successfully puts into context the events of a tumultuous 30-year period in U.S. history. Among the tools he uses to do this are an extensive bibliography and ample footnotes and statistics. His focus is on political events and his emphasis is evenly divided between foreign and domestic issues. The main recurring themes are civil rights (and what Patterson calls "rights consciousness") and the containment of communism. It was a period of prosperity that made this rights revolution possible, even though prosperity failed to enable the United States to impose its values throughout the world. More than a summarizer of headline stories, Patterson is judgmental about all characters and issues but is generally evenhanded in his assessments. His work explains the history of the times of the baby boomer generation and could become the definitive work on the era. Recommended for all collections.‘Gary Williams, Southeastern Ohio Regional Lib., Caldwell From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

With this beautifully written study Patterson (Brown Univ.) has distinguished himself as one of the leading historians of post-WW II US history. Grand Expectations supplies a rich blend of political and social history as well as excellent narrative and insightful analysis. Patterson has treated all of the important events of the period, from the use of the atomic bomb in 1945 to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974. Among the highlights of the book are Patterson's accounts of what motivated the nation's postwar presidents. For example, he found President Kennedy's style of foreign policy determined in part by a need never to be viewed as appearing weak. The book devotes considerable attention to the Vietnam War and the consequences of US involvement. Those consequences, along with other societal factors, resulted in the upheavals of the 1960s and lead Patterson to conclude that the 1968 election was "pivotal" because it changed subsequent elections for decades. Patterson also does a terrific job of surveying and analyzing race relations throughout the period. All levels. A. Yarnell Montana State University From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

James Patterson, Patterson is a twenty-five year member of the Brown University faculty and a Ford Professor of American History. He wrote "Grand Expectations: the United States, 1945-1974," which received the 1997 Bancroft Prize in American history. The Bancroft prize is one of the most prestigious honors a book of history can received and was established at Columbia University in 1948. It's considered to be on par with the Pulitzer Prize because an anonymous jury of peers judges it. "Grand Expectations" is an interpretation of the explosive growth, high expectations and unusual optimism that Americans experienced after World War II that went into the 1960's. It follows the social, economic and cultural trends, and foreign policy issues, which became less optimistic after the assassinations, the Vietnam War and Watergate.

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.