LBJ's America
LBJ's America
Mark K. Updegrove, LBJ Foundation, Austin
$29.95
USDIn innumerable ways, we still live in LBJ's America. More than half a century after his death, Lyndon Baines Johnson continues to exert profound influence on American life. This collection skillfully explores his seminal accomplishments—protecting civil rights, fighting poverty, expanding access to medical care, lowering barriers to immigration—as well as his struggles in Vietnam and his difficulty responding to other challenges in an era of declining US influence on the global stage. Sweeping and influential, LBJ's America probes the ways in which the accomplishments, setbacks, controversies and crises of 1963 to 1969 laid the foundations of contemporary America and set the stage for our own era of policy debates, political contention, distrust of government, and hyper-partisanship.
- Expands on the notion that we are still living in LBJ's America
- Provokes readers to consider the ways in which mid-century American liberalism and the controversies of the 1960s resonate in the 2020s
- Brings together top historians of the 1960s to create an accessible overview of LBJ's America
- Marks the fiftieth anniversary of LBJ's death by reconsidering his life, impact and legacies
- Differs from other recent biographies of LBJ by emphasizing the impact of his policymaking and legislative initiatives
Reviews & endorsements
'Crucial periods in history require regular revisiting. No period in recent American history was more crucial than the 1960s. The contributors to this scintillating volume pair the latest archival research with new perspectives to deliver fresh insight into the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, the man at the center of this pivotal decade.' H. W. Brands, author of The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
'The essays that constitute LBJ's America are collectively engrossing and brilliantly conceived. The amount of first-rate scholarship rendered by these esteemed scholars is deeply impressive. Historians Mark Lawrence and Mark Updegrove should be congratulated for advancing Great Society studies a giant leap forward with this enlightened edited volume. Highly recommended!' Douglas Brinkley, author of Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening
'LBJ's America provides an essential understanding of the profound impact Lyndon Johnson has had on our country. This superb collection of essays by a remarkable array of authors is seamlessly curated by Mark Lawrence and Mark Updegrove. Taken together, the wide-ranging essays provide a distinctive and multi-dimensional portrait of one of the most fascinating and consequential presidents in American history.' Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times
'Each contribution is excellent … this volume is a good place to start for understanding the contemporary problems Americans face and, hopefully, shall overcome. … Highly recommended.' A. J. Falk, CHOICE
'[The book] collects articles by well-established scholars of the era and the subject matter, and it is expertly organized and edited, providing a comprehensive and well-rounded assessment of Johnson's presidency. Clearly written and coherently constructed, it is accessible to any educated reader, and it belongs in college classrooms that focus on US political history, the presidency, or the 1960s.' Aram Goudsouzian, H-Diplo
Product details
October 2023Hardback
9781009172530
388 pages
236 × 158 × 26 mm
0.68kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Mark Atwood Lawrence and Mark K. Updegrove
- 1. LBJ: the man as president Marc J. Selverstone
- 2. LBJ and the contours of American liberalism Julian E. Zelizer
- 3. Lyndon Johnson and the transformation of cold war conservatism Nicole Hemmer
- 4. The great society and the beloved community: Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the partnership that transformed a nation Peniel E. Joseph
- 5. Lyndon Johnson, Mexican Americans and the border Geraldo Cadava
- 6. The war on poverty: how qualitative liberalism prevailed Joshua Zeitz
- 7. LBJ's supreme court Laura Kalman
- 8. 'If I cannot get a whole loaf, I will get what bread I can': LBJ and the Hart-Celler immigration act of 1965 Madeline Y. Hsu
- 9. 'It's always hard to cut losses': the politics of escalation in Vietnam Fredrik Logevall
- 10. Lyndon Johnson and the shifting global order Francis J. Gavin
- 11. 'Through a narrow glass': compassion, power and Lyndon Johnson's Sheyda Jahanbani
- 12. Afterword: LBJ's America Melody C. Barnes
- Index.
