A Companion to Post-1945 America (Blackwell Companions to American History)

I read this book for a graduate class in American history. My understanding of American history during the period 1945 to 2000 has become enlightened and better informed by several of the readings in this book. The two areas of American history that the book has expanded my understanding pertains to America's actions as a world leader, and more especially, America's domestic struggles. In some instances, the book was pivotal in settling previously held beliefs about historical facts, and in other instances, the book broke new ground in exposing history that had not been researched until recently. 1945 was a watershed year for American history and foreign policy. The recent victory gained in World War II left America as a one of two super power nations on the world stage. America also found itself as the leader of the free world and in political tension with the Soviet Union. Several actions by the world's two super powers caused them to enter into an era known as the Cold War, which lasted until 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall. Part III "Politics and Foreign Policy" finally settled the question of how pervasive Soviet espionage had become in the federal government prior to and after World War II. The authors' use of recently released secret documents from archives in the U.S. and the former Soviet Union made it possible to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) helped the Soviets to infiltrate some of the highest places of decision-making within the government of the U.S. One example of a CPUSA member's complicity in nefarious spying activity for the Soviet Union was Alger Hiss, who had been a highly placed member of the State Department in the 1940's. "In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the internal threat posed by the American Communist Party, both as a subversive political force and an auxiliary to Soviet espionage, loomed large." In the realm of America's domestic policy, I found that many of the book's readings pertaining to the civil rights struggle in America and the civil unrest during the 1960's changed my understanding of what really took place during those turbulent times. Prior to the course, most of my knowledge of these events were based on my observation of them on television at the time, or totally unknown to me. Several readings that I found informative dealt with Mexican American and Native American civil rights struggles and how these groups took unorthodox positions to fight for their rights. One reading that was most illuminating explained how the Mexican American community, in league with other civil rights organizations, successfully lobbied for the state government of Texas to pass a resolution in 1943 that essentially recognized them as Caucasians. The courts would later find that the resolution was unenforceable as law. However, the fact that Mexican Americans would take the unusual step of asking to be recognized as Caucasians instead of demanding that they be treated as equals to Caucasians, was counter intuitive to the civil rights struggles that Black Americans took leading up to and through the1960's. Another reading showed how Mexican Americans finally coalesced under the "Chicano" banner largely due to police brutality in Los Angeles in the riots of the late 1960's and early1970's. In the field of Native American history one reading dealt with tribal identities and lands, was new history to me. Once again, the reading showed a history counter intuitive to conventional belief about Native Americans anathema to life on the reservation. In 1953 the U.S. House of Representatives, in an effort to extend full civil rights and benefits of citizenship to Native Americans, passed a resolution that would ultimately strip them of their tribal affiliation and sovereignty. Essentially, this resolution forced tribal leaders to fight for their people's cultural uniqueness and acceptance as Native Americans separate from America's "melting pot." I also found most illuminating Part II on "Movements." The readings did an excellent job explaining the transformation of cultural and political attitudes of Americans from the 1960's. The book astutely proved that activism did not die in the 1960's. Instead, it took a slower more peaceful pace and in some instances, a turn to the right politically. The readings proved that the protest movements and events of the 1960's changed American history and have left their indelible imprint on the nation to this day.As a graduate student, I recommend this book for anyone interested in American History, and Cold War History.