Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore (Oxford History of the United States) (Paperback)

by James T. Patterson (Author) "In 1996, a popular comic strip, "The Buckets," offered a characteristically unflattering picture of American culture in the 1970s..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, United States, Cold War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The Brown University historian seamlessly melds the complexities of politics, economics, society and culture into a vibrant and accessible account of late twentieth century America. Patterson's analyses of standard historical fare, interwoven with nuanced observations on diverse issues such as family life, the personal computer revolution, the media and gay activism give this book its singular dynamism. Picking up where his last volume, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974, left off, Patterson opens with Richard Nixon's resignation and plunges into a detailed discussion of "the nation's number one problem," race. Contemporary commentators viewed racial tensions, along with relaxed sexual mores, agitation for women's rights and burgeoning consumerism as symptomatic of the country's "moral decline," spurring organizations like Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority to advocate "pro-life, pro-family pro-morality, pro-American" views. By the late 1990s, media-exaggerated accounts of these "culture wars," had abated, Patterson says. Pop culture icons from Bill Cosby to Madonna and Jerry Seinfeld also populate these pages, but, predictably, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton tower over all. Patterson credits Reagan with "facilitating" the end of the Cold War, but diplomatically sidesteps whether he or Mikhail Gorbachev deserve the ultimate accolades. Although international conflicts distracted Clinton from the domestic policy-making he preferred, a sexual "tryst" led to his impeachment, threatening the "transcendent position in United States history" he sought. The author also touches on terrorism, beginning with the Iranian hostage crisis and culminating in the American intelligence community's knowledge that, by late 1998, radical Muslim terrorists "were considering... hijacking commercial airliners and crashing them into buildings." Rich in period details from the somber to frivolous, this is an invaluable guide to the end of an era.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post
This splendid and readable new book is the latest volume in that ambitious series, "The Oxford History of the United States." It thus has the daunting task of matching the quality of other titles in the series, especially Robert Middlekauff's The Glorious Cause (on the American Revolution) and James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom (on the Civil War).

To reach those lofty standards is all the more difficult because the years covered by Restless Giant are not especially distinguished. James T. Patterson, an emeritus history professor at Brown University, had earlier written Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (thus being the only historian to contribute two volumes to the Oxford series), so the decision was clearly made long ago to regard Richard M. Nixon's resignation in 1974 as the "break point" in the story of American politics and society since World War II. But this leaves Patterson with the rather awkward time frame of 1974 to 2000-01 for his second book, not to mention forcing him to settle for an extremely inelegant subtitle. One wonders whether the planners and editors at Oxford University Press were fully aware of this chronological awkwardness when making their early decisions (is there really a recognized period called "Nixon to Bush 43" as there is for "The Progressive Era" or "The Interwar Years"?)

That said, Patterson has risen magnificently to the task of describing and analyzing this rich and confused period. Of course, to undergraduate freshmen these years are already history (none of my students was alive, for example, when Ronald Reagan was elected president), but to other readers this narrative is all too recognizable -- almost yesterday's news, though delivered with great balance. In fact, the many themes covered here -- such as the heated debates over abortion, the role of the Supreme Court, the Watergate aftershocks, the consumer revolutions, the rise of Latino communities and the economic stagnation of black ones, the coming of the Internet, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Black Hawk Down disaster in Mogadishu -- will occasionally seem all too recent. This reader confesses that he sometimes felt that he was reading, say, the Economist's "Year in Review" and then realized that the events in question had taken place 12 or 15 years ago.

To say that 1974-2001 was a confused period is in no way to criticize Patterson; indeed, perhaps it simply confirms the awkwardness of the beginning and end dates. For there is no clear, defining event that gives framework and sense to these particular years. In large part, that may be why so many Americans have felt upset, bereft and adrift from their traditional political, social and religious moorings, whereas others felt liberated, super-charged and excited by their material prospects or changes in lifestyle. This has been a heady but uneasy quarter-century, a bit like the 1890s or the 1920s in some ways, and it is extraordinarily difficult for even the smartest commentator to guess which way the tides are flowing. Patterson certainly gives it a great shot.

I particularly admired two aspects to this book. First, Restless Giant is extraordinarily sharp in its repeated references to and use of American popular culture -- be it the movies of the time or the better known television series -- as key indicators of shifts in lifestyles, tastes and, ultimately, political preferences. And surely the author's policy is right; it is hard to think of a previous society in which broad-based popular culture (or, as T.S. Eliot would put it, "low culture") has been so integrated with national politics and change. The Beatles or Bruce Springsteen were not "just" rock groups, and Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Michael Crichton's Rising Sun were not "just" novels for the beach.

Second, although Patterson does not claim this to be a chief thrust of his book, he is excellent in his coverage of the rise of the ultra-conservative right, especially the role of the Moral Majority. For all the signs of "confusion" above, therefore, one political trend emerges rather clearly from this 25-year-long tale: the increasing clout of the cultural-religious and political right. And who knows -- it may still not have reached its zenith. This thought, disturbing to many American liberals, does not seem to excite Patterson, whose approach is one of, "I neither approve nor disapprove; I tell the tale."

The chief deficiency of this work is, ironically, the consequence of its strong focus upon the domestic scene. True, Patterson ends with some rueful retrospective comments on the increasing evidence of foreign threats to U.S. security (especially al Qaeda) by the turn of the century, and he has a fine chapter on "America and the World in the 1980s." But because his heart and mind are focused upon our rich domestic scene, he gives little space to the question of how the world outside the "Restless Giant" has been quickly tilting over the past decades, and not necessarily in the Giant's favor. Such considerations need not have added much to an already ambitious book, and this reviewer, at least, would have welcomed Patterson's thoughts on whether the powerful but haphazard nation that has moved from the Age of Nixon to the Age of Bush II may or may not be enjoying a calm before some very severe storms.

For it is not just that al Qaeda and other international terrorist groups are out there, waiting to hurt America and Americans in all the frightening ways that the Bush administration stresses so much. The past 25 years have also witnessed colossal swings in the global balances of power, especially in the rise of Asia. There have been disturbing changes in our environment, to which we have given inadequate attention. There has been significant proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which could ultimately wind up in jihadist hands. There has been a serious overstretch of the American military, especially in Asia and the Middle East, despite colossal Pentagon budgets. There have been major shifts in the place of the U.S. economy in the world, together with America's increasing financial vulnerability. And the Number One Power has become incredibly unpopular in many parts of the world, to a degree that would have amazed such internationally admired presidents as Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.

These, too, are part of the complex story of how the world's Giant performed in the final quarter of the 20th century. Patterson's account is, for all the reasons mentioned above, a bold attempt to place some order upon the many domestic turbulences of the age. Still, one cannot help but wonder whether the scholar who covers the history of America during the years 2000 to 2025 may not have a very different story to tell, a story in which people will increasingly look back with nostalgia and some regrets to the Nixon to Bush II years -- years that were exciting, controversial and divisive, to be sure, but also years in which American politicians and voters avoided hard choices, saw the rest of the world through narrow blinders and frittered away their patrimony. Patterson is perhaps too sober and wily to engage in crystal-ball gazing; but because he speaks and writes with such authority upon the entire sweep of American history since the defeat of Germany and Japan, some final thoughts upon those terrible five decades, plus some canny reflections upon where we are now, would have been a grand way to conclude an excellent book.

Reviewed by Paul Kennedy
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195305221
• ISBN-13: 978-0195305227
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #121,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Oxford History of the United States Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oxford History of the U.S. with yet another winner!, December 3, 2005

By	Shawn S. Sullivan (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore (Oxford History of the United States, vol. 11) (Hardcover)

James T. Patterson's "Restless Giant", Volume 11 (and last chronologically) in the Oxford History of the United States puts an exclamation point on this gem of a series. Professor Patterson follows up on his own penultiate volume in the series, "Grand Expectations", with aplomb. David M. Kennedy, now the editor of the series, succeeding the late C. Vann Woodward, and himself the author of the antepenultimate volume, "Freedom from Fear", perhaps sums up the rationale for studying such recent history in his forward to this book: "It is often said that the history we know the least well is the history of our own time, particularly the decades immediately surrounding our own birth. Here (the readers) will find a cogent and compelling account of how history shaped the world they inherited . . . ".

Patterson does again what he does best and that is put history in the context of a multitude of definitionally overlapping diciplines. Covering the time period of 1974-2000, without the context of a Revolutionary War (as did Robert Middlekauff in "Glorious Cause"), the Civil War (James McPherson in "Battle Cry of Freedom"), and the Great Depression and WWII (Kennedy's Freedom from Fear) - all part of this series, is exceedingly well done and presented in a fashion that most historical narrative writers would find difficult to create. It is, hence, no surprise that Patterson was chosen to write two volumes here, both recent 20th Century history, without a linchpin on which to write around. He covers the period extraordinarily well and gives the reader a very balanced view of the many facets of our history over the last thirty years.

With this book only the 5th actually published in the series, I was quite happy to learn the following. Gordon S. Wood (Brown University) will be writing on the early National era. Daniel Howe (UCLA) will be writing on the Jacksonian era. H.W. Brands (University of Texas) will be writing on the late 19th Century. Bruce Schulman (Boston University) will be writing on the Progressive era. One or two volumes (two would make the series the full eleven volumes originally envisioned) on the Colonial period apparently have yet to be assigned. While the topical volume on economic history has been scrapped, George Herring (University of Kentucky) is writing one on foreign relations and policy. These are expected out in the 2006-2007 time frame.

The entire series is a wonderful undertaking that has not received the joint acclaim it deserves. Certainly many awards have been won individually for these terrific works but I think the awareness of the series, as a whole, is much lower than is warranted by the scholarly work being put into it. I am hopeful that as more volumes are published, this quickly dissipates. Kudos to all involved in this very worthy project.

It appears as if readers are in for a treat over the next 12- 24 months with the "missing" volumes at least having manuscripts into David Kennedy (Freedom from Fear) and the series' new editor with the passing of C. Vann Woodward.

Volumes 1 and 2, covering the Colonial Period (1672-1763) have been assigned, in some order, yet to be made public (that I am aware of) to Fred Anderson (University of Colorado) and Andrew Cayton (Miami University of Ohio).

Volume 3 - The Glorious Cause 1763-89, Robert Middlekauf PUBLISHED
Volume 4 - The U.S. from 1789-1815, Gordon Wood (Brown University)
Volume 5- What Hath God Wrought 1815-48, Daniel Walker Howe (UCLA)
Volume 6- Battle Cry of Freedom, 1848-65, James McPherson PUBLISHED
Volume 7- Leviathan: America Comes of Age, 1865-1900, H.W. Brands (Texas)
Volume 8- Reawakened Nation, 1896-1929, Bruce Schulman (Boston University)
Volume 9- Freedom from Fear, 1929-1945, David M. Kennedy PUBLISHED
Volume 10- Grand Expectations, 1945-74, James T. Patterson PUBLISHED
Volume 11- Restless Giant, 1974-2000, James T. Patterson PUBLISHED

Volume 12- a complete history of American foreign policy, George Herring (Kentucky)

It appears that the Brands addition has been pulled and will not be part of the series. What will take its place is not yet known. I would speculate that Brands will be writing on this same period, just not for this series as the work was largely done. A similar event happened some time ago with Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick writing "The Age of Federalism, 1788-1800". This was originally to be part of the series but the two apparently did not go far enough chromatically for the publishers. Also John Gaddis Lewis has written extensively and was also, somehow, dropped by Oxford. All of this makes for great reading one way or another.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done History of Our Time, October 25, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore (Oxford History of the United States, vol. 11) (Hardcover)

It is only when the history books are written that we begin to find out what really happened as opposed to reading/watching the day to day news stories in the paper/television.

This book by James Patterson, part of the Oxford history of the United States covers the years from Nixon's resignation (1974) to inauguration day 2001 when George W. Bush became President. The media tends to stress conflict. In actuality there is much less conflict than you might otherwise believe. The majority of Americans were less partisan, less attentive to political fighting than were the protestors, the politicians or the interest groups with causes to defend.

Through this quarter century, the Americans tended to elect the presidential candidate that they considered to be the most central, neither left nor right wing. Both political parties continued to be effective, holding about half of both houses of congress. The rights of racial and ethnic minorities, Catholics and Jews, the handicapped, senior citizens, women and gays all expanded. The economy expanded to have more Americans working than ever before.

This supurb book takes the immediacy out of the headlines and presents the history of our time in a well thought out, clear, and concise manner.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good survey of recent American history, November 25, 2005

By	Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore (Oxford History of the United States, vol. 11) (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 series, 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 archival 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.