The myth and the problem -- The post-World War II era : its characteristics, achievements, and problems -- Race : the great American obsession -- The myth of McCarthyism -- Prosperity and poverty in the postwar era -- Men and women -- Conformity, the "silent generation," liberalism, and social criticism -- Postwar culture -- Seeds of disintegration? -- Post-Sputnik "declinism" -- Those suburbs--suburbia, disturbia, and the slurbs -- Cars : getting around, Gorp, and the "vaginal look" -- The economy and industry in the postwar era