This brief paperback covers the social, cultural, and political aspects of U.S. history from the end of World War II through the present. It includes special biographies and boxes on films of each era, as well as maps and photographs that bring each era to life. This interpretive textbook combines narrative and analytic history with a balanced perspective that covers elites and out-groups, liberals and conservatives, and modernists and traditionalists while explaining how technology, popular culture, and social innovation have affected mainstream life and institutions.