Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974

Beginning in 1945, America rocketed through a quarter-century of extraordinary economic growth, experiencing an amazing boom that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. At one point, in the late 1940s, American workers produced 57 percent of the planet s steel, 62 percent of the oil, and 80 percent of the automobiles. The U.S. then had three-fourths of the world s gold supplies. It was a boom that produced a national euphoria, a buoyant time of grand expectations and an unprecedented faith in our government, in our leaders, and in the American dream--an optimistic spirit which would be shaken by events in the 60s and 70s, the civil rights movement, and particularly by the Vietnam War. In Grand Expectations, James T. Patterson has written readable and balanced work that weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate. He shows how this upbeat, can-do mood spurred grander and grander expectations as the era progressed. But by Nixon s resignation, we find a national mood in stark contrast to the grand expectations of ten years earlier, one in which faith in our leaders and in the attainability of the American dream was becoming shaken. Grand Expectations is part of The Oxford History of the United Statesseries, a multi-volume history of our nation that blends social,political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history intocoherent narrative. It was the winner of the 1997 Bancroft Prize in History and was named an Outstanding Academic Book of 1996 by Choice. Author: James T. Patterson Format: 880 pages, paperback Publisher: Oxford University Press (1997) ISBN: 9780195117974