LBJ's 1968 by Kyle Longley
1968 was an unprecedented year in terms of upheaval on numerous scales: political, military, economic, social, cultural. In the United States, perhaps no one was more undone by the events of 1968 than President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Kyle Longley leads his readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of what Johnson characterized as the 'year of a continuous nightmare'. Longley explores how LBJ perceived the most significant events of 1968, including the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy, and the violent Democratic National Convention in Chicago. His responses to the crises were sometimes effective but often tragic, and LBJ's refusal to seek re-election underscores his recognition of the challenges facing the country in 1968. As much a biography of a single year as it is of LBJ, LBJ's 1968 vividly captures the tumult that dominated the headlines on a local and global level.'1968 was a turbulent year in our country and a year when President Lyndon Johnson encountered what seemed like an endless series of crises. Kyle Longley has depicted the tone of the times and captured the dilemmas and decisions of LBJ in this compelling book that should be read by any student of that eventful year.' Larry Temple, Special Counsel to President Lyndon Johnson in 1968, Chairman of the LBJ Foundation
'Like King Lear, Lyndon Johnson gave away his power before the end of the play. Kyle Longley's Texas-size epic reveals the tragedy, comedy, pathos, and heroism in the extraordinary events that followed that fateful year, 1968, as seen through the eyes of an American giant.' Elizabeth Cobbs, author of American Umpire
'From the Pueblo crisis to the Chennault affair, 1968 was a year like no other, and Kyle Longley's fast-paced, richly detailed narrative splendidly captures the ups – and mostly downs – from the vantage point of LBJ's White House.' George C. Herring, author of The American Century and Beyond
'Kyle Longley has penned a vivid and insightful portrait of one of the most tumultuous and significant years in American history.' Randall B. Woods, University of Arkansas
'Kyle Longley offers an insightful portrayal of arguably the most complex American president of the Cold War era. What emerges is a fresh appraisal of Lyndon Johnson, a tragic figure contesting the forces of history. In an innovative biographical approach, Longley takes us inside LBJ's White House during the tumultuous year of 1968. An outstanding work by a master storyteller.' Gregory A. Daddis, Chapman University, California
'Perceptive and unflinching.' Tim Stanley, Literary Review
'Exceptionally well researched, written, organized and presented, LBJ's 1968 is an impressively informative work of outstanding scholarship and unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library 20th Century American History and Political Science collections.' Midwest Book Review
'The year 1968 is ancient history to some; to others it seems like only yesterday. It was LBJ's last year as president, and he was visited by trauma after trauma – the Pueblo crisis, the Prague Spring, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy, urban burning and looting, an antiwar movement, a political uprising by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy challenging his renomination, and so much more … With little relief from the daily tedium of the events of that year, 1968 was one darn thing after another. Longley describes it all well … Recommended.' P. D. Travis, Choice
'Kyle Longley's impressive, well-researched book brings new insight to the political and diplomatic events of 1968 … Longley's book, in addition to its being a fine work of history, provides a template through which to better understand our own times.' Robert David Johnson, Congress & the Presidency
Kyle Longley specializes in U.S. foreign relations with an emphasis on Latin America. He received his doctorate in 1993 from the University of Kentucky, where he studies with George Herring. Dr. Longley has taught at Arizona State University for Fourteen years. Currently, he is a full professor and Snell Family Dean's Distinguished Professor. He has taught a variety of courses including U.S.-Latin American Relations, Modern Central America, Modern U.S. Foreign Relations, the American Experience in Vietnam, and the Modern South.
Dr. Longley has received a variety of awards and recognition including a Moody Fellowship from the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation and research grants from the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman Libraries. His other awards include being appointed a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians and winning the Associated Students of Arizona State University Centennial Professor award for outstanding and the Zebulon Pearce Award for outstanding teacher in the Humanities at Arizona State University.
Dr. Longley has been active in several organizations including the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the Organization of American Historians, the Southern Historical Association, and the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. He has also published extensively. His first book, The Sparrow and the Hawk: The United States and Costa Rica during the Rise of Jose Figueres (1997), won the A. B. Thomas Prize for outstanding book published in Latin American Studies from the South Eastern Council on Latin American Studies. In addition to In the Eagle's Shadow he has also completed other books including Senator Albert Gore, Sr.: Tennessee Maverick (2004), Deconstructing Reagan: Conservative Mythology and America's Fortieth President (editor and contributor, 2006), and Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (2008). Currently, he is completing The Houses of the Purple Hearts: Small Town American in the Shadow of the Vietnam War and starting a project on policy prescriptions for the United States in Latin America with Admiral Jim Stavridis, U.S. Commander of the Southern Command.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781316643471 |
| ISBN 10 | 1316643476 |
| Title | LBJ's 1968 |
| Author | Kyle Longley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2020-01-23 |
| Number of pages | 374 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |