In this course students examine the social, economic, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the United States since World War II. We explore the politics and Cold War culture of the 1950s, American foreign policy throughout the period-especially Vietnam-as well as the social change movements of the 1960s, the sobering and transformative events of the 1970s, the subsequent enduring imprint on the American political and economic landscape left by the "Reagan Revolution," and the rise of lone-superpower militarism since the end of the Cold War. In many ways, this course is a critical examination of the roots of contemporary America.