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The America That Reagan Built

J. David Woodard

Book Code: C8609

ISBN: 0-275-98609-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98609-4

DOI:

296 pages, halftones

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 6/30/2006

List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £27.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Reviews:

The book offers a fairly straightforward, readable account of the major issues and trends in US politics and society since the latter days of the Carter administration. In so doing, it hits the significant points in contemporary affairs in a dispassionate, effective, and evenhanded way. For this it should be commended....Recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through practitioners.
—Choice January 2007
With so many of us born after 1980 and many more of us losing our memory of that hinge year, Woodard recalls how politics used to be and how it evolved, right up to the second administration of George W. Bush. He takes the temperature of the electorate and the great consuming public, exploring how economics, art, literature, science, society, fads and customs became part of American life and even became interwoven into its future. He considers the enigmas and the certainties of the Reagan years, the thousand points of light of George H.W. Bush, the varying degrees of separation between the Clinton administration and disaster, the postmodern nineties, and the effects of 9/ll on what seemed to be merely evolutionary. The photographs scattered through the text are particularly telling.
—Reference & Research Book News November 2006
The impressively coherent narrative encompasses everything from elections and policy debates to trials of the century, hairstyles, and top television shows.
—Political Science Quarterly Fall 2007

Endorsement From Raymond Tatalovich, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Loyola University Chicago: Conservatives are leading the charge, liberals are in retreat, and the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan was the defining moment in transforming the trajectory of our political life. That is the grand thesis of this enjoyable travelogue through contemporary American politics. And what punctuates the political road-map are culture wars, here and abroad, and those enduring values that define the essence of being an American. The historical narrative virtually transports the reader back in time to experience first-hand those vital developments that had lasting political impact, beginning with Jimmy Carter's failed rescue of Americans taken hostage by Iranian militants and culminating with 9/11/01 and George W. Bush's War on Terrorism. Anybody interested in American politics, particularly those for whom the 1970s are a fading memory, will immensely enjoy ^{he America That} ^{Reagan Built.} Woodard's lively writing style and richly detailed anecdotes are absolutely engaging.
Endorsement From Charles W. Dunn
Dean, Regent University: Readable and analytical, The America That Reagan Built its billing as a clear and concise account of 'the political history of the United States from the 1980s to the second administration of George W. Bush.' It is a 'must read' for all students of American politics. Indeed, students whose professors do not assign this book should feel short-changed.
Endorsement From Roger Ream
President, The Fund for American Studies: This book is political science at its best. David Woodard writes with a style that is part spellbinding storyteller and part incisive political analyst. He looks back on the key events that shaped the American experience of the past 25 years through a lens that is not narrowly focused but rather includes culture, values, economies, politics, and international affairs. The result is an important book that helps us understand where we are today.
Endorsement From William F. Connelly Jr.
John K. Boardman Politics Professor
Washington and Lee University: Each generation of students, we are told, suffers from a historical blind spot covering the decades surrounding their birth. This deficiency in current college students' understanding of recent political history finds its ready cure in this topical, highly readable account of recent American political history. Like Alexis de Tocqueville, David Woodard understands that a nation's politics and political institutions rest on the foundation of political culture. The America That Reagan Built explores the roots of our political culture, telling the story of a rolling Republican realignment culminating in today's tenuous majority. Woodard offers a critical insight into the current polarization of American politics with its bitter partisanship, "politics by other means," and politics of personal destruction. The book is the perfect supplement for courses filled with entering first year students.

Description: This is a whistle-stop survey of American politics from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, with visits to poll results, biennial elections, political crises, and policy questions of the past twenty-five years. It touches on numerous aspects of American political life as well as economics, art, literature, science, society, fads, and customs that changed with the culture of the country. The story is told in terms of the presidents who shaped and led the nation, the elections that brought and kept them in power, and the dozens of people who collectively played a part in helping mold the national experience from 1980 to 2005.

LC Card Number: 2006009797

LCC Class: E839

Dewey Class: 973

PDF Catalogs:
Praeger Politics 2007.pdf


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