Freeman, Joshua Benjamin

In this momentous work, acclaimed labor historian Joshua B. Freeman presents an epic portrait of the United States in the latter half of the twentieth century, revealing a nation galvanized by change even as conflict seethed within its borders. Beginning in 1945, he charts the astounding rise of the labor movement and its pitched struggle with the bastions of American capitalism in the 1940s and '50s, untangling the complicated threads between the workers? agenda and that of the civil rights and women?s movements. Through the lens of civil rights, the Cold War struggle, and the labor movement, American Empire teaches us something profound about our past while illuminating the issues that continue to animate American political discourse today.

Describes the labor history of New York City after the Second World War, covering its development of worker benefits and the effects of the 1950s anti-communist hunts and the 1970s fiscal crisis on its working class, among other topics.

Explores the rise of America into an empire-like state after World War II, exploring the influences of the successes and failures of the New Deal and the Great Society as well as the rise of corporations and the influence of America on the rest of the world.