The Eighties

During the Reagan years, Americans witnessed an extraordinary array of changes, from major technological advances to sweeping revisions of the tax code to the deregulation of major industries and the advent of the culture wars. America emerged from the decade completely transformed: political and social arrangements derived from post-World War II liberalism had given way to the highly competitive, fast-changing, technology-driven society we know today. In The Eighties, John Ehrman tracks this transformation in the context of Ronald Reagan's policies and convictions and examines the broader trends that enabled Reagan to achieve so much of his agenda. At a time when most Americans remained fairly centrist in their political commitments, Reagan was able to shift policy toward the right by building support for a few key policies. His gradualist approach met with little opposition from Democrats, who failed to mount a coherent response. Based on a broad range of primary source material, The Eighties offers an accessible and balanced account of a watershed decade in American history. Ehrman's Eighties is a strikingly successful book and a pleasure to read - it's scrupulously fair-minded, equally nuanced and perceptive in its discussion of cultural and political matters - and (above all) it provides a lucid, convincing, enormously valuable picture of the Reagan administration. Many (probably most) thoughtful, educated Americans still haven't got a clue who Reagan was, what he did and why he became and remains a revered figure in this country. They need to read Ehrman, the sooner the better. David Gelernter, Yale University