The Postwar Moment: Progressive Forces in Britain, France, and the United States after World War II
Isser Woloch
Abstract
Toward the end of World War II, the three democracies faced a common choice: return to the civic order of prewar normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. This book assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the allied democracies: their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to enact them in the early postwar years, and the mixed outcomes in each country. The book examines three progressive postwar manifestos that reveal a common agenda in the three nations. The issues at stake included priorities for reconst ... More
Toward the end of World War II, the three democracies faced a common choice: return to the civic order of prewar normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. This book assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the allied democracies: their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to enact them in the early postwar years, and the mixed outcomes in each country. The book examines three progressive postwar manifestos that reveal a common agenda in the three nations. The issues at stake included priorities for reconstruction or reconversion; “full employment” via economic planning; price controls; the roles of trade unions; expansion of social security; national health care; public housing; and educational reform. The book persuasively adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe.
Keywords:
World War II,
reconstruction,
reconversion,
economic planning,
price control,
trade unions,
social security,
national health care,
public housing,
educational reform
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780300124354 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: September 2019 |
DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300124354.001.0001 |
