America's Right Turn

In America's Right Turn historian William Berman examines the political, cultural, and economic contexts in which Republican conservatives operated and explores the crisis of the liberal welfare state against the background of presidential politics. Berman demonstrates the key roles played by conservative populism and the conservative backlash to the rights revolution in the collapse of Democratic hegemony. But most importantly, he shows how conservative politics became allied with conservative economics-an alliance forged with singular success during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In this new edition, Berman discusses the initial failure of the Clinton administration to establish a viable political alternative to the GOP. Berman also shows how Clinton won reelection in l996 by moving steadily to the center, even to the extent of co-opting the Republican agenda, while defending a number of key Democratic programs.

A very good, concise and highly readable account of the rise of the 'New Right' in the United States. It will prove very useful to undergraduate students in courses on political science and contemporary history.--Political Studies, Anyone who teaches American History will find William C. Berman's book a useful source in preparing lectures on the politics of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.--American Historical Review, Berman writes in clear, unbiased prose and places large trends in context. He does especially well explaining the significance of the decline in the power of organized labor, as both cause and effect of the conservative trend . . . An excellent case study.--Journal of Southern History, Clearly advances discussion of the political transformations from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Berman is especially helpful in untangling the interaction of economic change, economic policy making and electoral politics.--Journal of American History

William C. Berman is professor emeritus of history at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Politics of Civil Rights in the Truman Administration and William Fulbright and the Vietnam War: The Dissent of a Political Realist.