brief survey of U.S. history since the end of World War II, focusing on popular beliefs, fears, and hopes that have shaped American culture and history over the last eight decades.--Amazon.

Prelude : the Imperial Logic of the American Dream : Part I. The Postwar Decades : 1. Victory and anxiety : World War and Cold War, 1945-1962 -- 2. Conformity and rebellion : American culture and politics, 1945-1963 ; Part II. The Long 1960s : 3. Confidence and agitation : the American empire at high tide, 1960-1965 --4. Fulfillment and frustration : an empire in conflict, 1965-1974 -- 5. Experimentation and exhaustion : political culture of the Sixties, 1965-1975 -- Interlude -- 6.Reassessment and nostalgia : the American empire in the age of limits, 1973-1980 ; Part III. Indian Summer : 7. Revival and denial : the American empire on borrowed time 1981-1991 -- 8. Innovation and nostalgia : the culture of the Eighties, 1981-1989 -- 9. Prosperity and distraction : the post-Cold War era, 1991-2001 ; Part IV. Present Tense : 10. Comfort and dread : the American empire in decline, 2001-present -- Postlude : The Ends of the American Century.