Crisris of confeidence: ideas,power and violence in America

"We are in a double crisis - the crisis of our internal character as a nation and the crisis of the relationship between America and the world. After so many years of over-weening confidence in our ability to fix up all the troubles of man kind, we are now suffering increasing doubt that we can even heal the ills of our own national community. The time has surely come for a re-assessment of our institutions and values. The essays which follow are intended as a his torian's contribution to this effort."
Professor Schlesinger examines the continuing role of violence in American history, assesses the role and responsi bility of ideas and intellectuals in the world of power politics, dissects the origins, rise and decline of the Cold War, and analyzes the collapse of American illusions in Vietnam. He in quires into the lessons we might draw from this tragedy, considers the impact of violence, war and irrationality on the young and shows that a society which produces this magnitude of student discontent and disquietude among its youth obviously has some questions to ask itself.
The New Left and the New Right exist because the Old Politics has failed to meet the real issues in American society and, in the face of this challenge, Arthur Schlesinger speculates about the prospects for American politics and particularly about the future of the Presidency.