The America That Reagan Built
For twelve years, from 1980 until 1992, the conservative politics of Ronald Reagan set the contours of American politics.
His legacy reshaped political loyalty for the next eight years as well, as more and more states became Republican in allegiance.
ABOUT
This is a whistle-stop survey of American politics from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama with visits to poll results, biennial elections, political crises and policy questions of thirty years. American cultural life is crucial to understanding political life. Postmodernity emerged as a social construction, and it flowed into the rhetoric and behavior of politicians during this period.
Barack Obama was described as “a postmodern character to a postmodern moment in American political history.” Yet it was Reagan, not Obama, who dominated the culture of the time. The current polarized environment of the nation owes its beginning to this era of American politics.
The looming event of the recent era, the 9/11 attack on New York, was born in this cultural time. Today, this culture is separated from Reagan, but in uncovering these events, the seeds of the present dilemma has roots in this era.
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The Historian
“This remarkable book is aptly titled. Author J. David Woodard argues that, beginning with the election of 1980, Ronald Reagan united the nation’s conservative elements into a powerful coalition, inspired dramatic party realignments, and altered the nature of American politics for the next twenty-five years.”
Political Science Quarterly
“The impressively coherent narrative encompasses everything from elections and policy debates to trials of the century, hairstyles, and top television shows.”