The study of any period in history is in part defined by what came before and by what came after. What makes an inquiry into postwar American life unique and somewhat problematic is that there is no postscript, no epilogue. Consequently, there is in such chronicles an inevitable lack of perspective. Nevertheless, the case for writing a history of the recent past is compelling. Students are fascinated by it; the half century since World War II is the frame of reference for their parents and grandparents. For many it will be the gateway to the study of history as a whole. It is the period that, for better or worse, is most likely to inform the present and the future. And surely, the recent era is as full of change, drama, and complexity as any other period in human history.

Perhaps the three most obvious themes for a book on postwar America are the Cold War, the struggle of nonwhite Americans for their full rights under the Constitution, and the women's movement. The fifty year battle that the United States and its allies waged with the forces of international communism affected virtually every aspect of American life. Most obviously, it dominated foreign affairs, forcing policymakers to view every problem through its distorting prism. The East–West confrontation involved the United States in two hot wars, Korea and Vietnam. That latter conflict shattered the New Deal–Fair Deal–New Frontier–Great Society reform coalition, marking a break in a cycle of reform-consolidation-reform and introducing one of reaction-consolidation-reaction in domestic affairs.