The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture - Hardcover

Brink Lindsey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060747668 ISBN 13: 9780060747664

Publisher: Collins, 2007

Synopsis

A reexamination of the past half century argues that a rise of affluence has directly caused a divide between liberal and conservative states, explaining how respective political parties were reorganized around economic interests after World War II and gave way to racial and gender politics as well as the recent conservative revolution. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

“Here is one of the freshest and most thought-provoking books on recent American history to appear in years.” (Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America)

“Shows us how great an achievement our economy is-it reshaped our society and our culture, for better and worse.” (Michael Barone, Senior Writer, U.S. News & World Report and co-author, The Almanac of American Politics)

“In The Age of Abundance, Brink Lindsey provides an admirable-and much needed-model of rational, respectful, readable political argument.” (Virginia Postrel, Author, The Substance of Style)

“In an age of abundance, the libertarian moment may have arrived, trumping the old division between left and right.” (Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University and author of Return of the "L" Word: A Liberal Vision for the New Century)

“With breathtaking analysis, Lindsey...offers a dizzying look...over American economics, politics, and culture to examine the complexities of abundance.” (Booklist (starred review))

“An engaging argument that, probably better than any other, explains much of how we’ve arrived at our current past.” (Fred Siegel, The City Journal)

“A wise, revealing book combining the long sweep of history with a documentarian’s eye for detail.” (Chris Tucker, Dallas Morning News)

“Lindsey’s basic argument is fresh and provocative and his insights are frequently dazzling.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Lindsey’s measured cheerfulness is, like his scintillating book, reasonable.” (George F. Will, New York Times Book Review)

Synopsis:

Until the 1960s, scarcity and the struggle to clothe, feed and employ the nation drove most of US political life. From slavery to the New Deal, political parties organized around economic interests and the often fervent debate over the best allocation of political and economic rewards. But with the explosion of the nation's economy in the years after World War II, a new set of needs began to emerge. Employing Abraham Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs, Brink Lindsey offers a complete re-interpretation of the latter half of the 20th Century. Suddenly, the tumult of racial and gender politics and the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s can be seen in an entirely new light. Once the struggle for survival has been resolved, a new set of divisive issues emerge.In a sweeping tour of American history since World War 2, Lindsey establishes that both left and right have contributed important ideas to our political culture.

Indeed, by showing that we have conquered poverty, Lindsey is able to describe the politics of abundance as conflict between those who want to defend the fruits of prosperity - the freedoms that the US enjoys because of it's dynamic economy, including gender equality and alternative lifestyles - and those who want to defend the institutions that created abundance - the family, traditional values and religious certitude.

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060747668
• ISBN 13: 9780060747664
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400