Columbia History of Post-World War II America

Mark C. Carnes, Ann Whitney Olin Professor of History at Barnard College, has explored the ways in which history is imagined. In Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies and Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past (and Each Other), he has examined two varieties of the historical imagination. He has pioneered "Reacting to the Past," in which college students play elaborate games, their roles informed by classic texts. He is also general editor of the American National Biography.

An eclectic, thought-provoking collection of essays... Recommended. CHOICE Students and scholars of American Studies should find this book, with its 'cultural' focus and its mixing and blurring of traditional disciplinary boundaries, an unusually congenial and fruitful exploration of recent American history. -- Kent Blaser American Studies This volume, valuable to all interested in American history and contemporary culture, is of special value to scholars of American studies and popular culture... The volume is valuable and must be owned by all of us. -- Ray B. Browne Journal of American Culture [An] ambitious and multidisciplinary collection. -- Andrew Johnstone Journal of American Studies

• 1. Introduction, by Mark C. Carnes Part I. Culture 2. The Spaces People Share: The Changing Social Geography of American Life, by Sandra Opdycke 3. Drowning in Pictures, by Kenneth Cmiel 4. Popular Music and Technology, by Tom Collins 5. Bringing It Home: Children, Technology, and Family in the Postwar World, by Paula S. Fass 6. The Culture of Work, by Mark C. Carnes 7. The Military, Sport, and Warrior Culture, by Donald J. Mrozek 8. Death, Mourning, and Memorial Culture, by Michael Sherry 9. The Commerce of Culture and Criticism, by George Cotkin Part II. Politics 10. Domestic Containment: The Downfall of Postwar Idealism and Left Dissent, 1945-1950, by Richard Lingeman 11. Without Restraint: Scandal and Politics in America, by Julian E. Zelizer 12. Television, Democracy, and Presidential Politics, by Rick Shenkman 13. Gender and the Transformation of Politics, by Susan Hartmann 14. Which Sides Are You On? Religion, Sexuality, and Culture- War Politics, by David T. Courtwright 15. The New Alchemy: Technology, Consumerism, and Environmental Advocacy, by Andrew Kirk 16. Citizenship and the Problem of Desire in the Postwar Labor and Civil Rights Movements, by Thaddeus Russell 17. What Price Victory? American Intellectuals and the Problem of Cold War Democracy, by Michael E. Latham Part III. Government 18. Managerial Capitalism Contested: Government Policy, Culture, and Corporate Investment, by Tony A. Freyer 19. Federal Education Policy and Politics, by Maris A. Vinovskis Contributors Index