Great society : a new history

Resource Information

The work Great society : a new history represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Manchester City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Great society : a new history

Title remainder

a new history

Statement of responsibility

Amity Shlaes

Creator

• Shlaes, Amity

Author

• Shlaes, Amity

Subject

• History
• Manners and customs
• Nineteen sixties
• Nineteen sixties
• Social conditions
• Social policy
• 1945-1980
• United States -- Economic policy -- 1961-1971
• United States -- History -- 1961-1969
• United States -- Social conditions -- 1960-1980
• United States -- Social life and customs -- 1945-1970
• United States -- Social policy
• United States
• Economic policy

Genre

• History

Language

eng

Summary

"Today, a battle rages in our country. Many Americans are attracted to socialism and economic redistribution while opponents of those ideas argue for purer capitalism. In the 1960s, Americans sought the same goals many seek now: an end to poverty, higher standards of living for the middle class, a better environment and more access to health care and education. Then, too, we debated socialism and capitalism, public sector reform versus private sector advancement. Time and again, whether under John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon, the country chose the public sector. Yet the targets of our idealism proved elusive. What's more, Johnson's and Nixon's programs shackled millions of families in permanent government dependence. Ironically, Shlaes argues, the costs of entitlement commitments made a half century ago preclude the very reforms that Americans will need in coming decades. In Great Society, Shlaes offers a powerful companion to her legendary history of the 1930s, The Forgotten Man, and shows that in fact there was scant difference between two presidents we consider opposites: Johnson and Nixon. Just as technocratic military planning by "the Best and the Brightest" made failure in Vietnam inevitable, so planning by a team of the domestic best and brightest guaranteed fiasco at home. At once history and biography, Great Society sketches moving portraits of the characters in this transformative period, from U.S. Presidents to the visionary UAW leader Walter Reuther, the founders of Intel, and Federal Reserve chairmen William McChesney Martin and Arthur Burns. Great Society casts new light on other figures too, from Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, to the socialist Michael Harrington and the protest movement leader Tom Hayden. Drawing on her classic economic expertise and deep historical knowledge, Shlaes upends the traditional narrative of the era, providing a damning indictment of the consequences of thoughtless idealism with striking relevance for today. Great Society captures a dramatic contest with lessons both dark and bright for our own time." -- Publisher's description

Cataloging source

YDX

Dewey number

973.923

Illustrations

• illustrations
• portraits
• plates

Index

index present

LC call number

• E841
• E839

LC item number

• .S468 2019
• .S27 2019

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography