Restless Giant
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"First-rate history by a first-rate historian... A splendid book that will come to be regarded as indispensable to everyone who cares about the history of this country."--Charles Peters, The New York Times Book Review
"This splendid and readable new book is the latest volume in that ambitious series, 'The Oxford History of the United States...' Patterson has risen magnificently to the task of describing and analyzing this rich and confused period... Restless Giant is extraordinarily sharp in its repeated references to and use of American popular culture... He is excellent in his coverage of the rise of the ultra-conservative right."--Paul Kennedy, Washington Post Book World
"Patterson is at his best in recreating the spirit and feel of presidential elections and the legislative and diplomatic achievements--as well as the scandals--of our nation's chief executives.... Patterson is a careful historian. Bending over backward to offer his readers a range of perspectives on the phenomena he explores, he appears to be a genuinely fair and balanced scholar.... For its thorough and reliable recounting of the period's main developments, 'Restless Giant' is well worth reading."--Eric Arnesen, Chicago Tribune
"Dazzling and erudite, the book thrums with the buzz of ideas coming together.... Detached, dispassionate, and drawn to detail, Patterson writes in taut, vivid language, and with illustrative examples on every page. He keeps his judgments terse and defensible."--David Greenberg, AmericanProspect
"Patterson is a fine historian.... Continuing where he ended his prior contribution to the series (Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974), Patterson again combines narrative and analysis in his assessment of an important era in U.S. history. The result is a good survey of the political, economic, foreign policy, social, and cultural trends and events during the presidencies of Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.... For all libraries." --
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James Patterson's Bancroft Prize-winning Grand Expectations, the penultimate volume in the Oxford History of the United States, was hailed by The New York Times as "a spirited, sprawling narrative of American life" and by The Wall Street Journal as "a tour de force." Now, in the final chronological volume of this acclaimed series, Patterson again offers an authoritative and vibrant history of a turbulent period in American life. Restless Giant provides a crisp, concise assessment of the twenty-seven years between the resignation of Richard Nixon and the election of George W. Bush, in a sweeping narrative that seamlessly weaves 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, including a resurgent Religious Right, appeared to cut the country in two. Indeed, Reagan helped to usher in a widespread conservative revolution, but even as the Right was ascendant politically, it did not succeed in reversing more liberal trends. Patterson describes how, when the Cold War finally ended, Americans faced bewildering new developments around the world and discovered--in Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, and Iraq--that it was far from easy to direct the outcome of global events. In exploring a wide range of cultural, social, and economic concerns, Patterson shows how the persistence of racial tensions, high divorce rates, alarm over crime, and urban decay all led many writers to portray this era as one of decline. But Restless Giant offers a more positive perspective, arguing that our often unmet expectations caused many of us to view the era negatively, when in fact we were in many ways better off than we thought. By 2000, most Americans lived more comfortably than they had in the 1970s, and though bigotry and discrimination were far from extinct, a powerful rights consciousness insured that these were less pervasive in American life than at any time in the past. With insightful analyses and engaging prose, Restless Giant captures this period of American history in a way that no other book has, illuminating the road that the United States traveled from the dismal days of the mid-1970s through the hotly contested election of 2000.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is in effect a follow on from the Grand Expectations book, which is also very good.
The books offers a host of facts that are interesting and of particular interest to students at degree level.
It offers a comprehensive history of the United States and Patterson's books are a must read for any United States historian
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've often felt that 'contemporary history' is not just an oxymoron, but a fallacy as well. Good history depends on two things: information and perspective. Information, in that there are sources available that provide insight into the motivations behind decisions and events, and perspective in that there is enough distance to make an assessment of what decisions and trends truly shaped subsequent developments. Without both, the observations and conclusions made may not be inaccurate, but they are not really historical judgments.
For this reason, I approached James Patterson's book with some skepticism. It's not that I didn't think he was up to the task (his previous contribution to the Oxford History of the United States, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (Oxford History of the United States), is testament to his ability to write such history), but that the task itself was in many ways a fool's errand. Yet Patterson has done an admirable job of applying a historical assessment of America during the last quarter of the twentieth century. He strikes an admirable balance in examining the political, social, and economic developments of those decades; what emerges is a portrait of America becoming more conservative politically during these decades while coming to terms with the 'rights revolution' of the 1960s. I was particularly impressed with his discussion of American culture of the period, something that was sorely lacking in a couple of the earlier volumes of the series.
Nevertheless, the challenge of writing contemporary history shows in these pages. Many of the document collections remain closed, and Patterson seems heavily dependent upon contemporary journalism in assessing events. Where his problems are particularly evident, though, is in drawing conclusions about developments. The challenge for historians is in assigning causality, to say why something happens. Too often what Patterson does is to present various explanations of events without coming to any definite conclusions himself. While such evenhandedness is admirable, it demonstrates the fundamental problem - we still don't know enough to make judicious assessments of the impact of events still within living memory. The result is best regarded as an interim account, one that will be revised in many respects as our knowledge and distance from the times grows.
This is not to diminish the author's achievement. Patterson has written a good, comprehensive survey of recent American history, easily the best one available to us today. Even readers who remember well the events Patterson describes will learn something new from this book, one that is likely to remain the standard history of the era for many years to come.
For this reason, I approached James Patterson's book with some skepticism. It's not that I didn't think he was up to the task (his previous contribution to the Oxford History of the United States, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (Oxford History of the United States), is testament to his ability to write such history), but that the task itself was in many ways a fool's errand. Yet Patterson has done an admirable job of applying a historical assessment of America during the last quarter of the twentieth century. He strikes an admirable balance in examining the political, social, and economic developments of those decades; what emerges is a portrait of America becoming more conservative politically during these decades while coming to terms with the 'rights revolution' of the 1960s. I was particularly impressed with his discussion of American culture of the period, something that was sorely lacking in a couple of the earlier volumes of the series.
Nevertheless, the challenge of writing contemporary history shows in these pages. Many of the document collections remain closed, and Patterson seems heavily dependent upon contemporary journalism in assessing events. Where his problems are particularly evident, though, is in drawing conclusions about developments. The challenge for historians is in assigning causality, to say why something happens. Too often what Patterson does is to present various explanations of events without coming to any definite conclusions himself. While such evenhandedness is admirable, it demonstrates the fundamental problem - we still don't know enough to make judicious assessments of the impact of events still within living memory. The result is best regarded as an interim account, one that will be revised in many respects as our knowledge and distance from the times grows.
This is not to diminish the author's achievement. Patterson has written a good, comprehensive survey of recent American history, easily the best one available to us today. Even readers who remember well the events Patterson describes will learn something new from this book, one that is likely to remain the standard history of the era for many years to come.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Restless Giant is a good recent history of the USA written from a internal point of view by a liberal (that's not to say it's a bad thing just saying it isn't a book that focuses mostly on domestic matters). The read is actually enjoyable and flows well. The chapters aren't strictly chronological but vaguely follow this. Many history books focus on the presidents, this one though focuses on issues a lot; education, gay rights, the religious right, abortion etc.
A sample of the book. In the 70s a lot is about education and rights, desegregation and busing. It's actually quite interesting to read too. The late 70s focuses on the hostages and the rise of the right. The 80s has a good right up in this book domestically and the author makes a good attempt at Iran-Contra. The 90s focuses on the deadlock in government and the lack of things done in the 90s and the personality of Bill Clinton. The '92 election and Waco and O.J. are also covered.
The flaws in this book are small but are mostly on foreign policy where the author shows a level of naivity, relying on a few robust books but mostly on paper journalism in liberal newspapers. For example at the time the Oslo accords were hailed as a huge stepforward in middle east peace and commentators were waxing lyrical about Bill Clinton and the peace effort, true there's little talk about it today but for many years after there was and for most of this book the author writes about what people thought of at the time, but in this case he glossed over it and wrote about it from todays viewpoint almost as an afterthought. In this case 2 paragraphs! Apart from the stereotypical Serb bashing as root of all evil by American Liberals many of the other glitches are minor ones.
The later years have long sections on the Monica Lewinsky affair and the final part of the book on the 2000 election. Apart from the stereotypical Nader bashing that the author even joins in a little bit, this section was good and made a strong end to the book.
A sample of the book. In the 70s a lot is about education and rights, desegregation and busing. It's actually quite interesting to read too. The late 70s focuses on the hostages and the rise of the right. The 80s has a good right up in this book domestically and the author makes a good attempt at Iran-Contra. The 90s focuses on the deadlock in government and the lack of things done in the 90s and the personality of Bill Clinton. The '92 election and Waco and O.J. are also covered.
The flaws in this book are small but are mostly on foreign policy where the author shows a level of naivity, relying on a few robust books but mostly on paper journalism in liberal newspapers. For example at the time the Oslo accords were hailed as a huge stepforward in middle east peace and commentators were waxing lyrical about Bill Clinton and the peace effort, true there's little talk about it today but for many years after there was and for most of this book the author writes about what people thought of at the time, but in this case he glossed over it and wrote about it from todays viewpoint almost as an afterthought. In this case 2 paragraphs! Apart from the stereotypical Serb bashing as root of all evil by American Liberals many of the other glitches are minor ones.
The later years have long sections on the Monica Lewinsky affair and the final part of the book on the 2000 election. Apart from the stereotypical Nader bashing that the author even joins in a little bit, this section was good and made a strong end to the book.
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