America after the Cold War: The First 30 Years

History is filled with surprises, not the least of which, was the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989.

But what about the 30 years following the fall of the Soviet Union? This period of history is still being written. The end of the Cold War is a natural stopping point, but also a natural starting point, an inflection point when one story ends and something new—something unpredictable from what happened before—begins. Nonetheless, events of today have also been profoundly shaped by the past several decades, and we must understand this recent history to understand today’s world. Among other things, our world is a product of:

“New world order” that emerged in the 1990s, in which the United States was the sole remaining superpower on the world stage;
International conflicts, particularly driven by non-state actors and terrorists;
Political polarization that simmered during the Clinton administration and came to a rolling boil in the Obama and Trump administrations;
Golden age of science and technology that has profoundly reshaped our understanding of the universe and the way humans interact with each other; and
Business cycle extremes, with longer booms and a bigger bust, from the “great moderation” in the 1990s through the 2008 financial crisis and the years of slow recovery.
Contemporary life is changing so rapidly that it can be breathtaking to take a step back and look at the cohesive “story” from 1990 to 2019, but this is precisely what America after the Cold War: The First Thirty Years offers. Taught by esteemed professor and Great Courses favorite Dr. Patrick Allitt of Emory University, these 12 fascinating lectures tie the threads of contemporary life together to give you a rich understanding of the United States of America after the threat of annihilating war with the Soviet Union had miraculously passed.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it seemed the United States was poised for a new era of growth, equality, and peace. America after the Cold War: The First Thirty Years walks you through the promise, achievements, and shortcomings of America at the head of a self-proclaimed “new world order.”

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