Who stole the American dream?

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Gil Troy

"The 1990s was a decade of extreme change. Seismic shifts in culture, politics, and technology radically altered the way Americans did business, expressed themselves, and thought about their role in the world. At the center of it all was Bill Clinton, the talented, charismatic, and flawed Baby Boomer president and his controversial, polarizing, but increasingly popular wife Hillary. Although it was in many ways a Democratic Gilded Age, the final decade of the twentieth century was also a time of great anxiety. The Cold War was over, America was safe, stable, free, and prosperous, and yet Americans felt more unmoored, anxious, and isolated than ever. Having lost the script telling us our place in the world, we were forced to seek new anchors. This was the era of glitz and grunge, when we simultaneously relished living in the Republic of Everything even as we feared it might degenerate into the Republic of Nothing. Bill Clinton dominated this era, a man of passion and of contradictions both revered and reviled, whose complex legacy has yet to be clearly defined.In this unique analysis, historian Gil Troy examines Clinton's presidency alongside the cultural changes that dominated the decade. By taking the '90s year-by-year, Troy shows how the culture of the day shaped the Clintons even as the Clintons shaped it. In so doing, he offers answers to two of the enduring questions about Clinton's legacy: how did such a talented politician leave Americans thinking he accomplished so little when he actually accomplished so much? And, to what extent was Clinton responsible for the catastrophes of the decade that followed his departure from office, specifically 9/11 and the collapse of the housing market? Even more relevant as we head toward the 2016 election, The Age of Clinton will appeal to readers on both sides of the aisle"--

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Norton Garfinkle and Daniel Yankelovich

In 'Uniting America', some of the most prominent US social thinkers reject the myth of polarisation, arguing that there are sensible centrist solutions more in keeping with public sentiment and that would better serve the national interest.

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Ewan Morris

"National symbols have long been highly contentious in Ireland, and they remain so today. While there have been a number of studies which have examined the role of symbols in the contemporary conflict in Northern Ireland, as yet there has been no detailed study of debates about national symbols in twentieth-century Ireland. This book fills that gap, outlining the historical background to the continuing controversy about national symbols in Ireland and shedding new light on the deep political divisions which have marked Irish society throughout this century. It focuses on the crucial period from 1922 to 1939 which saw the creation and consolidation of new governments in the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland."--Jacket.

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Richard Bradley

"Examining American politics, society, and culture from Kennedy to Nixon, this book ties all of these elements together and explains the political mythology that has made this period one of the most fascinating and important epochs in American history. One of the strengths of the book is that it not only demonstrates, but also explains, the deeper mechanisms behind our continual fascination with these three particular presidents. From the Kennedy assassination through Vietnam and Watergate, a complex web of historical events is untangled and lucidly explained. There have been few efforts to examine the nature of Kennedy's continual appeal, but no work thus far has attempted to place Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon in one coherent framework that not only explains our fascination - indeed, obsession - with these individuals, but also illuminates the period in history they so dominated."--BOOK JACKET.