Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974

“A gripping and troubling account of the origins of our turbulent times.”― Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States

When did America become polarized? For leading historians Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer, it all starts in 1974 with the Watergate crisis, the OPEC oil embargo, desegregation busing riots in Boston, and the winding down of the Vietnam War.

In the years that followed, the story of our own lifetimes would be written. Longstanding historical fault lines over income inequality, racial division, and a revolution in gender roles and sexual norms would deepen and fuel a polarized political landscape. In Fault Lines, called “refreshingly frank” by Eric Wakin of the New York Times, Kruse and Zelizer reveal how the discord of the present day began almost five decades ago. They deftly tell the story of how these rifts were widened thanks to profound changes in our political system as well as a fracturing media landscape that was repeatedly transformed with the rise of cable TV, the internet, and social media.