The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II

by William Henry Chafe

Book Overview

This popular classic text chronicles America's roller-coaster journey through the decades since World War II. Considering both the paradoxes and the possibilities of post-war America, Chafe portrays the significant cultural and political themes that have colored our country's past and present, including issues of race, class, gender, foreign policy, and economic and social reform. He examines such subjects as the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019515049X
• ISBN13: 9780195150490
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 9.3" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Good, thorough survey

This is an excellent survey of U.S. history since World War II. Just about every topic imaginable is covered: the Cold War, the baby boom, McCarthyism, TV and popular culture in the 1950s, the civil rights movement, JFK, LBJ, the 1960s youth movement, Vietnam, Watergate, women's liberation, Reagan, Clinton, and even such recent events as 9/11, the war in Iraq, and Katrina. One of the book's strengths is that one is able to see the onset (from the Cold War to the quest for social change) of much of the polarization in our current-day politics. One of the best chapters is devoted to the year 1968, a "watershed" year that author William Chafe refers to as "a time of horror, embitterment, despair, and agony." He skillfully describes the country literally coming apart at the seams: how several forces sought social change, and how Richard Nixon was able to exploit the anger and violence of the year to win the presidential election. We seem to have been fighting the culture wars ever since. There are some weaknesses. As an editor by profession, I was annoyed to see Bull Connor referred to as Bull "Conner" on at least one occasion, and Helen Gahagan Douglas (Nixon's "pink lady") is referred to as Helen "Galagan" Douglas at least once in the text and even in the index. Chafe also mentions Hurricane Katrina hitting Louisiana in early September 2005, when it actually hit at the end of August. I also would have liked to have seen some topics discussed in greater length: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the assassinations of MLK and RFK almost seem to just get mentioned in passing. That being said, Chafe has a lot of ground to cover, and he crams a lot of information into about 600 pages. (Strangely, Chafe also refers to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin as just Doris Kearns. Don't know what that's all about.) All in all, though, this is a good, thorough survey of "the unfinished journey" of American history.

Updating Our Recent History

This text is a fine piece of historical work. It provides new historical perspectives on events that many of us have lived through. As our recent past recedes further into history, and as new original historical sources, such as presidential papers, become available, the view of history of any time period is subject to new and revised interpretations by scholars. Reinterpratation of historical events are evidenced in this book. The book covers that period of U.S. History from the beginning of the Cold War through 9/11 and the Iraq War. This book does a very nice job as well in providing the history enthusiast or an amateur the present schloarly consensus on such major events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, race relations, the Vietnam War, and the women's movement. It is well written, well documented and highly readable. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a good overview of recent U.S. history.

Updating Our Recent History

This text is a fine piece of historical work. It provides new historical perspectives on events that many of us have lived through. As our recent past recedes further into history, and as new original historical sources, such as presidential papers, become available, the view of history of any time period is subject to new and revised interpretations by scholars. Reinterpratation of historical events are evidenced in this book. The book covers that period of U.S. History from the beginning of the Cold War through 9/11 and the Iraq War. This book does a very nice job as well in providing the history enthusiast or an amateur the present schloarly consensus on such major events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, race relations, the Vietnam War, and the women's movement. It is well written, well documente and highly readable. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a good overview of recent U.S. history.

The book presents interesting motives

Joe Anguilano WWII, a Lesson in Realpolitik? Two powerful nations, the United States and the USSR, were pitted against each other in a power-struggle during and after World War Two. This dangerous power struggle, referred to as the Cold War, at its very core, originated due to the economic needs of the United States and foreign policy rhetoric. Due to an alliance held together by little more than a common enemy, two very different nations were brought together as allies and became entangled in a post-war diplomatic nightmare. "In December 1940 America had begun its Lend-Lease plan for sending arms to Britain" (J, 3). The motives behind the Lend-Lease program for England are very important in determining the motives for US interests in Europe. In hindsight, the Soviets accused the US of an "economically aggressive...effort to dominate the globe," (Time 1). Similar to World War I, the US had a vested interest in an English victory because "trade lines with England and France, economic and political control over Latin America and South America-all would be best preserved if Germany were defeated" (J, 33). The US Lend-Lease program for England was meant to alleviate Nazi aggression threatening these interests as well as others. Chafe writes "posing the issue [of war] as strictly one of self-interest offered little chance of success given the depth of America's revulsion toward internationalism. [The] Roosevelt [administration] relied [on] rhetoric of American values as a means of justifying the international involvement that knew must inevitably lead to war" (J, 34). Yet, "in June 1941, Germany invaded Russia and Stalin became `Uncle Joe" (J, 32). Why would the US ally itself with a government that oversaw prison camps and purge trials that killed up to 6 million (J, 32)? "From a Western perspective, there seemed little basis for distinguishing between Soviet tyranny and Nazi totalitarianism" (F, 32). By allying itself with the USSR, the United States decided to put its notion of a "city on a hill" aside to try to retain its economic and political interests abroad. But the rhetoric arguing for the war continued its "city on the hill" ideals. Roosevelt tried to reason with this compromise when writing to General MacArthur saying, "The Russian armies are killing more Axis personnel and destroying more Axis materiel than all the other twenty-five United Nations put together" (J, 36). The incentive for the USSR to take up arms with the US is due simply to the fact that Nazi forces were making advances in Russia and it was taking a heavy toll. Economic motives and foreign policy rhetoric had a two-fold effect as origins for the Cold War. Motivations that did not stand up to "pure or altruistic" were primary reasons for entering the war and the Roosevelt administration's lack of acknowledgement of these motivations " severely limited the flexibility necessary to a multifaceted and effective diplomacy" (J,