This book explores American thought and culture in the formative moment of the late 20th century, in the aftermath of the fabled Sixties. The overall argument here is that the tendencies and sensibilities we associate with that earlier moment of upheaval decisively shaped intellectual agendas and cultural practices, from the all volunteer Army to the cartoon politics of Disney movies, in the 1980s and 90s. By this accounting, the so-called Reagan Revolution was not only, or even mainly, a conservative event. By the same accounting, the Left, having seized the commanding heights of higher education, was never in danger of losing the so-called culture wars. At the end of the 20th century, the argument goes, the USA was much less conservative than it had been in 1975. The book takes supply-side economics and "South Park" equally seriously. It treats Freddy Kreuger, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Ronald Reagan as comparable cultural icons.

Preface: The world elsewhere is not -- Chronology -- "From dusk to dawn" : origins and effects of the Reagan revolution -- "Tenured radicals" in the ivory tower : the great transformation of higher education -- The creators and constituents of the "postmodern condition" -- "Signs of signs" : watching the end of modernity at the cineplex -- "Angels in America" : technologies of desire and recognition -- The ending of the "American century" -- Appendix: Their Great Depression and ours.