LBJ's America
The Life and Legacies of Lyndon Baines Johnson

Delves into the life and presidency of LBJ, illustrating how his policies laid the foundations of contemporary America.

Mark Atwood Lawrence (Edited by), Mark K. Updegrove (Edited by)

9781009172530, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 October 2023

388 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

'[The book] collects articles by well-established scholars of the era and the subject matter, and it is expertly organized and edited, providing a comprehensive and well-rounded assessment of Johnson's presidency. Clearly written and coherently constructed, it is accessible to any educated reader, and it belongs in college classrooms that focus on US political history, the presidency, or the 1960s.' Aram Goudsouzian, H-Diplo

In innumerable ways, we still live in LBJ's America. More than half a century after his death, Lyndon Baines Johnson continues to exert profound influence on American life. This collection skillfully explores his seminal accomplishments—protecting civil rights, fighting poverty, expanding access to medical care, lowering barriers to immigration—as well as his struggles in Vietnam and his difficulty responding to other challenges in an era of declining US influence on the global stage. Sweeping and influential, LBJ's America probes the ways in which the accomplishments, setbacks, controversies and crises of 1963 to 1969 laid the foundations of contemporary America and set the stage for our own era of policy debates, political contention, distrust of government, and hyper-partisanship.

Introduction: Mark Atwood Lawrence and Mark K. Updegrove
1. LBJ: the man as president Marc J. Selverstone
2. LBJ and the contours of American liberalism Julian E. Zelizer
3. Lyndon Johnson and the transformation of cold war conservatism Nicole Hemmer
4. The great society and the beloved community: Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the partnership that transformed a nation Peniel E. Joseph
5. Lyndon Johnson, Mexican Americans and the border Geraldo Cadava
6. The war on poverty: how qualitative liberalism prevailed Joshua Zeitz
7. LBJ's supreme court Laura Kalman
8. 'If I cannot get a whole loaf, I will get what bread I can': LBJ and the Hart-Celler immigration act of 1965 Madeline Y. Hsu
9. 'It's always hard to cut losses': the politics of escalation in Vietnam Fredrik Logevall
10. Lyndon Johnson and the shifting global order Francis J. Gavin
11. 'Through a narrow glass': compassion, power and Lyndon Johnson's Sheyda Jahanbani
12. Afterword: LBJ's America Melody C. Barnes
Index.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]