The 1970s
A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic Inequality
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- € 23,99
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- € 23,99
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A compelling framework for understanding the importance of the 1970s for America and the world
The 1970s looks at an iconic decade when the cultural left and economic right came to the fore in American society and the world at large. While many have seen the 1970s as simply a period of failures epitomized by Watergate, inflation, the oil crisis, global unrest, and disillusionment with military efforts in Vietnam, Thomas Borstelmann creates a new framework for understanding the period and its legacy. He demonstrates how the 1970s increased social inclusiveness and, at the same time, encouraged commitments to the free market and wariness of government. As a result, American culture and much of the rest of the world became more—and less—equal.
Borstelmann explores how the 1970s forged the contours of contemporary America. Military, political, and economic crises undercut citizens' confidence in government. Free market enthusiasm led to lower taxes, a volunteer army, individual 401(k) retirement plans, free agency in sports, deregulated airlines, and expansions in gambling and pornography. At the same time, the movement for civil rights grew, promoting changes for women, gays, immigrants, and the disabled. And developments were not limited to the United States. Many countries gave up colonial and racial hierarchies to develop a new formal commitment to human rights, while economic deregulation spread to other parts of the world, from Chile and the United Kingdom to China.
Placing a tempestuous political culture within a global perspective, The 1970s shows that the decade wrought irrevocable transformations upon American society and the broader world that continue to resonate today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Keeping contemporary history timely and accessible, Borstelmann (The Cold War and the Color Line) shows the significance of 1970s American politics, culture, and religion on the following decades. As a world-renowned historian at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, he accurately explores political and social crises, gender and racial equality protests, alterations in global market trends, and regional turbulence throughout the Soviet Union, Africa, and the Far East. The flower children, Borstelmann notes, were disillusioned by the endless Vietnam War, Nixon's arrogant Republican Party firmly in command in Washington. The author's sterling commentary on the rise of the feminist movement, the decline of the Soviet empire, and the new Christian right's courtship of Capitol Hill sets this book apart from other surveys of the "Me Decade." Nuggets of genuine insight without any social agenda are found frequently within these pages.
