"This new edition of Patterson's widely used book carries the story of battles over poverty and social welfare through what the author calls the "amazing 1990s," those years of extraordinary performance of the economy. He explores a range of issues arising from the economic phenomenon -- increasing inequality and demands for use of an improved poverty definition. He focuses the story on the impact of the highly controversial welfare reform of 1996,...

A concise assessment of the 27 years between the resignation of Richard Nixon and the election of George W. Bush, weaving together social, cultural, political, economic, and international developments. We meet the era's many memorable figures--most notably, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton--and explore the "culture wars" where liberals and conservatives appeared to cut the country in two. Patterson describes how, when the Cold War finally ended, Americans...

Beginning in 1945, America rocketed through a quarter-century of extraordinary economic growth, experiencing a boom that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. It was a boom that produced a national euphoria, a time of grand expectations and an unprecedented faith in our government, in our leaders, and in the American dream, an optimistic spirit which would be shaken by events in the '60s and '70s, and particularly by the Vietnam War. Now, in...