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, the origins and the end of the Cold War, the culture of the 1970s, the Reagan years, the Clinton presidency, and the events of September 11th and their aftermath. In this edition, Chafe provides an insightful assessment of Clinton's legacy as president, particularly in light of his impeachment, and an entirely new chapter that examines the impact of two of America's most pivotal events of the twenty-first century: the 2000 presidential election turmoil and the September 11th terrorist attacks. Chafe puts forth an excellent account of George W. Bush's first year as president and also covers his subsequent role as a world leader following his administration's declared war on terrorism. The completely revised epilogue and updated bibliographic essay offer a compelling and controversial final commentary on America's past and its future. Brilliantly written by a prize-winning historian, the fifth edition of The Unfinished Journey is an essential text for all students of recent American history.

This title 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 which have coloured the country's past and present.

Having written widely on civil rights and women's history, Chafe brings the themes of all his scholarship together in this book about the Clintons' "co-presidency," two people committed to both sex and race equality.

Chafe's analysis of changing social patterns is both solid and imaginative in the best sense....His book will certainly increase our understanding of where we are going--and why.""--Elizabeth Janeway ""Adopted as required reading - tremendously popular with students - provokes lively debates.""--John Rhinehart, Riverside Community College ""A trenchant analysis of the underlying social and economic changes of the past century....Particularly insightful in analyzing the ways in which racial and sexual inequality are both similar and fundamentally different.""--Alice S. Rossi, University of Ma.

Here is a sweeping study of American women in the 20th century by a leading scholar of women's history. The Paradox of Change ranges from the Progressive Ers and the New Deal to the rise of feminism and the New Right in the 1970s and 1980s. Thoroughly researched and incisively argued, it is essential for anyone who wants to learn more about how women have shaped, and been shaped by, modern America.

Based on the author's dissertation, Columbia.

The 'sit-ins' at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro launched the passive resistance phase of the civil rights revolution. This book tells the story of what happened in Greensboro; it also tells the story in microcosm of America's effort to come to grips with our most abiding national dilemma--racism.

Chronicles the history of the United States over the past forty five years, including the first years of the Bush administration.

A political leader's decisions can determine the fate of a nation, but what determines how and why that leader makes certain choices? William H. Chafe, a distinguished historian of twentieth century America, examines eight of the most significant political leaders of the modern era in order to explore the relationship between their personal patterns of behavior and their political decision-making process. The result is a fascinating look at how personal lives and political fortunes have intersected to shape America over the past fifty years. One might expect our leaders to be healthy, wealthy, genteel, and happy. In fact, most of these individuals--from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Martin Luther King, Jr., from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton--came from dysfunctional families, including three children of alcoholics; half grew up in poor or only marginally secure homes; most experienced discord in their marriages; and at least two displayed signs of mental instability. What links this extraordinarily diverse group is an intense ambition to succeed, and the drive to overcome adversity. Indeed, adversity offered a vehicle to develop the personal attributes that would define their careers and shape the way they exercised power. Chafe probes the influences that forged these men's lives, and profiles the distinctive personalities that molded their exercise of power in times of danger and strife. The history of the United States from the Depression into the new century cannot be understood without exploring the dynamic and critical relationship between personal history and political leadership that these eight life stories so poignantly reveal.