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The cover of The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 \(HarperCollins; 2008\

The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 \(HarperCollins; 2008\

Sean Wilentz

How did a conservative movement once thought marginal seize power in American politics, and what followed?

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At a glance

Author
Sean Wilentz

Why read it

  • You will see how conservatism came to dominate American politics for over three decades, interrupted in the late seventies and reversed in the nineties
  • You will understand how Reagan joined deeply conservative politics with the rhetoric and spirit of the New Deal and the New Frontier
  • You will avoid crediting or blaming one man for an era, since Wilentz finds Reagan central but not the sole cause

Who it is for

  • A voter trying to place today's politics in its history
  • A student of American politics since the seventies
  • A reader who wants a short, readable political chronicle

Contents

  1. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, in the Oval Office to discuss welfare reform with President Richard M. Nixon, May 14, 1974, as the Watergate scandal raged
  2. A Marine changes the official presidential portraits hung at the American embassy in Bonn, West Germany, after Nixon announced his resignation on August 8, 1974
  3. President Gerald R. Ford meets with Deputy Chief of Staff Dick Cheney and Chief of Staff Don Rumsfeld in the Oval Office, April 23, 1975
  4. The counterculture pays a call: former Beatle George Harrison and rock and roll organist Billy Preston visit President Ford at the White House, December 13, 1974
  5. President Ford addresses delegates during the plenary session of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, August 1, 1975
  6. A demonstration by women in South Boston, led by antibusing advocate Louise Day Hicks, protest federal school busing orders, September 12, 1975, as helmeted riot police line the street
  7. Phyllis Schlafly, national leader of the "Stop the Equal Rights Amendment" movement, speaks with reporters at a rally in the Illinois state capitol, Springfield, March 4,1975
  8. President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter walking down Pennsylvania Avenue following his swearing in at the U.S. Capitol, January 20, 1977
  9. Pat Caddell, polling expert and guru of the new politics, and President Carter at the White House, November 7, 1977
  10. Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, November 26, 1978
  11. President Carter and the shah of Iran toast each other at a state dinner in Carter's honor, Tehran, December 31, 1977
  12. Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel playing chess with National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski during a break in the Camp David summit, September 9, 1978
  13. President Carter with Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the Oval Office, June 26,1978
  14. Ronald Reagan's fourth-grade class photograph, Tampico, Illinois, May 12, 1920
  15. Reagan, president of the Screen Actors Guild, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, November 25, 1947
  16. Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan celebrating his victory in the California gubernatorial election, Los Angeles, November 8, 1966
  17. President Ronald Reagan eating lunch at his desk in the Oval Office less than a week after his inauguration, January 26, 1981
  18. President Reagan passes a jar of his favorite candy, jelly beans, to Budget Director David Stockman before a meeting at the White House with cabinet secretaries and budget advisers about reducing federal spending, February 11, 1981
  19. One month after a nearly fatal attempt on his life, President Reagan delivers a nationally televised address to a joint session of the Congress on what he calls his program for economic recovery, April 28, 1981
  20. President Reagan working at his desk in the Oval Office, May 6, 1982
  21. President and Nancy Reagan attend a memorial service for those killed in action in Lebanon and Grenada, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, November 4, 1983
  22. A Marine in full combat gear stands guard outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut after a bomb destroyed part of the building, killing sixty-three and wounding more than 100, April 18, 1983
  23. President Reagan with Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of State George Shultz, Attorney-General Ed Meese, and Chief of Staff Don Regan, discussing the president's remarks to the press on the Iran-contra affair in the Oval Office, November 25, 1986
  24. President Reagan meeting with his nominee to the Supreme Court, Robert Bork, at the White House residence, November 9, 1987
  25. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North testifying before the joint congressional committee on Iran-contra, seated beside his lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, July 14, 1987
  26. President Reagan meets with General Secretary Gorbachev of the Soviet Union at Hofdi House during the Reykjavik summit, November 11, 1986
  27. President Reagan speaking at Moscow State University, May 31, 1988
  28. Nancy Reagan, President Reagan, Vice President George H. W. Bush, and Barbara Bush, after Reagan endorsed Bush's run for the presidency in Washington, D.C., May 11,1988
  29. President Bush holds up a bag of crack cocaine during an address to the nation on his drug control strategy from the Oval Office, September 5, 1989
  30. President Bush receives salutes from General Norman Schwarzkopf and troops during the Operation Desert Storm homecoming parade, July 8, 1991
  31. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, President Bill Clinton, and House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich conferring in the White House in 1993
  32. Bodies of Tutsi peasants murdered at Nyanza Hill in Rwanda, April 21–23, 1994
  33. Hillary Clinton campaigning on behalf of the administration's health care proposal, University of Colorado at Boulder, March 14, 1994
  34. Yitzhak Rabin, President Clinton, and Yasir Arafat mark the signing of the Oslo accords on the South Lawn of the White House, September 13, 1993
  35. Hillary and Bill Clinton, and families of the victims, at the Time for Healing Prayer Service following the right-wing terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, April 23, 1995
  36. Monica Lewinsky surrounded by photographers as she gets into a car headed for an appointment with investigators from the F.B.I., Los Angeles, May 27, 1998
  37. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in favor of the impeachment of President Clinton, November 19, 1998
  38. Noisy and violent protestors shutting down the recounting of votes by hand at the Miami- Dade County election office, November 22, 1998
  39. Vice President Al Gore speaking with reporters outside the White House, December 5, 2000
  40. President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrive outside the Pentagon for an armed forces full honor review to mark the end of Rumsfeld's tenure, Arlington, Virginia, December 15, 2006
  41. Introduction [1]
  42. Prologue July 4, 1976 [14]
  43. 1 Memories of the Ford Administration [26]
  44. 2 Détente and Its Discontents [48]
  45. 3 Jimmy Carter and the Agonies of Anti-Politics [73]
  46. 4 Human Rights and Democratic Collapse [99]
  47. 5 New Morning [127]
  48. 6 Confronting the Evil Empire [151]
  49. 7 "Call It Mysticism If You Will" [176]
  50. 8 "We Have an Undercover Thing": The Iran-Contra Affair [209]
  51. 9 "Another Time, Another Era" [245]
  52. 10 Reaganism and Realism [288]
  53. 11 The Politics of Clintonism [323]
  54. 12 Clinton's Comeback [355]
  55. 13 Animosities and Interest: The Impeachment of Clinton [382]
  56. 14 Irreparable Harm: The Election of 2000 [408]
  57. Epilogue: October 13, 2001 [432]
  58. Acknowledgments [459]
  59. Notes [461]
  60. Introduction

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