Prisoners of hope : Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the limits of liberalism / Randall B. Woods.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2016]Description: 461 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780465050963 (hardback)
- 0465050964 (hardback)
- United States -- Politics and government -- 1963-1969
- Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
- United States -- Economic policy -- 1961-1971
- Economic assistance, Domestic -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Social legislation -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Liberalism -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- United States -- Social policy -- 20th century
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 973.923 W896 | Available | 33111008393635 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society was breathtaking in its scope and dramatic in its impact. Over the course of his time in office, Johnson passed over one thousand pieces of legislation designed to address an extraordinary array of social issues. Poverty and racial injustice were foremost among them, but the Great Society included legislation on issues ranging from health care to immigration to education and environmental protection. But while the Great Society was undeniably ambitious, it was by no means perfect. In Prisoners of Hope , prize-winning historian Randall B. Woods presents the first comprehensive history of the Great Society, exploring both the breathtaking possibilities of visionary politics, as well as its limits.
Soon after becoming president, Johnson achieved major legislative victories with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But he wasn't prepared for the substantial backlash that ensued. Community Action Programs were painted as dangerously subversive, at worst a forum for minority criminals and at best a conduit through which the federal government and the inner city poor could bypass the existing power structure. Affirmative action was rife with controversy, and the War on Poverty was denounced by conservatives as the cause of civil disorder and disregard for the law. As opposition, first from white conservatives, but then also some liberals and African Americans, mounted, Johnson was forced to make a number of devastating concessions in order to secure the future of the Great Society. Even as many Americans benefited, millions were left disappointed, from suburban whites to the new anti-war left to African Americans. The Johnson administration's effortsto draw on aspects of the Great Society to build a viable society in South Vietnam ultimately failed, and as the war in Vietnam descended into quagmire, the president's credibility plummeted even further.
A cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of even well-intentioned policy, Prisoners of Hope offers a nuanced portrait of America's most ambitious--and controversial--domestic policy agenda since the New Deal.
"An eminent historian charts the origins and impact of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society "-- Provided by publisher.
"In Prisoners of Hope, prize-winning historian Randall B. Woods presents the first comprehensive history of the Great Society, exploring both the breathtaking possibilities of visionary politics, as well as its limits. During his first two years in office, Johnson passed a host of historic liberal legislation as part of his Great Society campaign, from the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act to the 1964 Food Stamp Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. But Johnson's ambitious vision for constructing a better, stronger America contained within it the seeds of the program's own destruction. A consummate legislator, Johnson controlled Congress like no president before or since. But as Woods shows, Johnson faced mounting resistance to his legislative initiatives after the 1966 midterm elections, and not always from the Southern whites who are typically thought to have been his opponents. As white opposition to his policies mounted, Johnson was forced to make a number of devastating concessions in order to secure the passage of further Great Society legislation. Even as Americans benefited from the Great Society, millions were left disappointed, from suburban whites to the new anti-war left to urban blacks. Their disillusionment would help give rise to powerful new factions in both the Democratic and Republican parties. The issues addressed by Lyndon Johnson and his cohort remain before the American people today, as we've witnessed in the fight for Obamacare, the racial unrest in St. Louis and Baltimore, and the bitter debate over immigration. As Prisoners of Hope tragically demonstrates, America is still fundamentally at war over the legacy of the Great Society"-- Provided by publisher.
The paradox of reform -- "I am a Roosevelt New Dealer"; liberalism ascendant -- Funding the Great Society and the War on Poverty -- The second reconstruction -- The mandate: the election of 1964 -- Liberal nationalism versus the American Creed: the Great Society form schoolroom to hospital -- March to Freedom: Selma and the Voting Rights Act -- Cultures of poverty -- Progressivism redux: the challenges of social engineering -- Nativism at bay: immigration and the Latino Movement -- The new conservation -- Guns and butter -- The search for a new kind of freedom -- The imp of the perverse: community action and welfare rights -- Reform under siege -- Whiplash: urban rioting and the War on Crime -- A "rice-roots revolution": The great society in Vietnam -- Abdication -- American dystopia.
Includes bibliographical references and index.