The Genesis of an American Superpower

This book is the first comprehensive analysis of a crucial transitional period in American history, when the nation abandoned its previous isolationist tradition and accepted the burdens of global leadership in the aftermath of World War II. American society, culture, economy and politics were all transformed in the postwar era, as an abundant society evolved and confronted crucial issues such as coping with the nuclear age and addressing civil rights. During the presidency of Harry Truman, the United States undertook the reconstruction of Europe, the occupation of Germany and Japan, participated in the judicial prosecution of war criminals and instituted the policies and agencies necessary to confront the expansion of Soviet power as the Cold War took shape. The structure of a modern national security state began to form as the military was reorganized to accommodate the possible use of nuclear weapons and combat newly arisen threats. Alongside analyzing the historical, political and economic developments that led to America's dramatic transformation, each chapter also sheds light on key figures of the era including Eleanor Roosevelt, Humphrey Bogart and Bayard Rustin. The Genesis of an American Superpower is a unique resource aimed at general readers and undergraduates, graduates and scholars alike interested in modern American history and politics.

Blaine T. Browne is an Emeritus Professor at Broward College in Florida, USA, where he received an endowed teaching chair in 2007. He received a PhD in History from the University of Oklahoma in 1985 and was on the faculty of several universities and colleges. He is the author and/or co-author of numerous articles and ten books, most recently Dazed and Confused: America Confronts the 1970s (2023), Mighty Endeavor: The American Nation and World War II (2019) and with Robert C. Cottrell 1968: The Rise and Fall of the New American Revolution (2018). He has served as president of the Florida Conference of Historians and is still active in the organization. His current interests include American social, cultural and intellectual history as well as American wars.

Introduction 1. "A Rubble Heap, a Charnel House, a Breeding Ground of Hate and Pestilence": 1945-The End of a Global Catastrophe 2. "A Parliament of Man, a Federation of the World": Founding a New Global Order 3. "In the Center of a Troubled and Frightened World": The Trials and Triumphs of Harry S. Truman 4. "The Guardian and Standard Bearer of Western Civilization": The New Internationalism and the Creation of the National Security State, 1945-1949 5. "Given the Rush of Events, We Were a Little Giddy Perhaps": Hopes, Fears and Foundations of the Abundant Society 6. "You Know How to Whistle, Don't You?": The Age of Noir and Normality-Pastimes and Culture 7. "To Secure These Rights": The Birth of the Modern Civil Rights Movement 8. "I Shall Be Taught a Science of Chaos": Hopes and Fears in the Nuclear Age 9. "A Conspiracy So Immense": Red Scare and the Enemy Within 10. "It Looks Like World War III": The Soviet A-Bomb, China, Korea and an End to Peace: 1949-50 Epilogue: A Superpower at Eighty: "Morbid Symptoms" and an Uncertain Future