Plus, receive recommendations and exclusive offers on all of your favorite books and authors from Simon & Schuster.
0:00 /
LIST PRICE $12.99
PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER
Digital products purchased on SimonandSchuster.com must be read on the Simon & Schuster Books app. Learn more.
Free shipping when you spend $40. Terms apply.
Buy from Other Retailers
Table of Contents
About The Book
A groundbreaking work of history about the American middle class—its rise, why it faltered, and who truly benefited from its dominance.
In Promised Land, David Stebenne “invites us to remember those decades in which both the middle class and the Democratic Party were ascendant” (The Wall Street Journal). The story begins with the pervasive income and wealth inequality of the pre-New Deal period. What followed began a great leveling. World War II brought transformative elements that also helped expand the middle class. For decades, economic policies and cultural practices strengthened the trend, and by the 1960s the middle class dictated American tastes from books to TV shows to housing to food, creating a powerful political constituency with shared interests and ideals.
The disruptive events of 1968, however, signaled the end of this expansion. The cultural clashes and political protests of that era turned a spotlight on how the policies and practices of the middle-class era had privileged white men over women, people of color, and other marginalized groups, as well as military force over diplomacy and economic growth over environmental protection. These conflicts, along with shifts in policy and economic stagnation, started shrinking that vast middle class and challenging its values, trends that continue to the present day.
Now, as the so-called “end of the middle class” dominates the news cycle and politicians talk endlessly about how to revive it, Stebenne’s vivid history of a social revolution that produced a new and influential way of life reveals the fascinating story of how it was achieved and the considerable costs incurred along the way. “Well-researched, evenhanded…this concise, lucid account offers a solid overview of mid-20th-century social history” (Publishers Weekly) and shines more than a little light on our possible future.
In Promised Land, David Stebenne “invites us to remember those decades in which both the middle class and the Democratic Party were ascendant” (The Wall Street Journal). The story begins with the pervasive income and wealth inequality of the pre-New Deal period. What followed began a great leveling. World War II brought transformative elements that also helped expand the middle class. For decades, economic policies and cultural practices strengthened the trend, and by the 1960s the middle class dictated American tastes from books to TV shows to housing to food, creating a powerful political constituency with shared interests and ideals.
The disruptive events of 1968, however, signaled the end of this expansion. The cultural clashes and political protests of that era turned a spotlight on how the policies and practices of the middle-class era had privileged white men over women, people of color, and other marginalized groups, as well as military force over diplomacy and economic growth over environmental protection. These conflicts, along with shifts in policy and economic stagnation, started shrinking that vast middle class and challenging its values, trends that continue to the present day.
Now, as the so-called “end of the middle class” dominates the news cycle and politicians talk endlessly about how to revive it, Stebenne’s vivid history of a social revolution that produced a new and influential way of life reveals the fascinating story of how it was achieved and the considerable costs incurred along the way. “Well-researched, evenhanded…this concise, lucid account offers a solid overview of mid-20th-century social history” (Publishers Weekly) and shines more than a little light on our possible future.
About The Author
Photograph by Clara Hirsch
David Stebenne, the author of Promised Land, is a specialist in modern American political and legal history. He has published political commentary in The Conversation, HuffPost, The New Republic, The Observer, and Salon and has appeared on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered to discuss politics, the economy, and labor issues. A native of Rhode Island and Maryland, he teaches history and law at Ohio State University.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (July 14, 2020)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982102722
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
"With a historian’s eye for detail and context, [Stebenne] examines factors that helped propel the growth of the middle class ... immensely enlightening and rewarding."
—Booklist
"Stebenne’s account is well-researched, evenhanded, and illustrated with sketches of the life stories of representative middle-class couples. This concise, lucid account offers a solid overview of mid-20th-century social history.”
—Publisher's Weekly
“Stebenne has written a provocative account of [middle-class Americans’] rise and fall … A thoughtful look at a long-ago era when America seemed egalitarian and prosperous.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"Considering its central role in modern American history, the middle class has received remarkably little attention from historians, compared with labor or the rich. But now David Stebenne gives us an insightful account of the rise of the middle class -- as an economic and social entity and a state of mind — from the New Deal to the1960s. Uniting political, economic, and cultural history, and paying necessary attention to those excluded from the benefits of middle class life because of race, gender, and geography, Promised Land challenges us to think creatively about how to combat today's inequality and declining economic opportunity."
—Eric Foner, author of Battles for Freedom and The Second Founding
"David Stebenne's sparkling new study of the rise of America's middle class since 1929 provides readers with an exciting blend of political, economic, and cultural history. You need to read this book if you want to understand the astonishing changes in America between the Great Depression and the failed leadership of President Lyndon Johnson. You also should read it if you want to grasp how much your life and prospects have changed since 1968."
—Louis Galambos, editor of The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower and author of Eisenhower: Becoming the Leader of the Free World
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Promised Land eBook 9781982102722
- Author Photo (jpg): David Stebenne Photograph by Clara Hirsch(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
