The Reagan era is usually seen as an era of unheralded prosperity, and as a high-watermark of Republican success. President Ronald Reagan’s belief in ‘Reaganomics’, media-friendly sound-bites and ‘can do’ personality have come to define the era. However, this was also a time of domestic protest and unrest. Under Reagan the US was directly involved in the revolutions which were sweeping Central America.
At this event Nick Witham will discuss how the left within the US reacted to and protested against these events. The Nation, Verso Books and the Guardian exploded in popularity, riding high on the back of popular anti-interventionist sentiment in America, while the film-maker Oliver Stone led a group of directors making films with a radical left-wing message.
Overall, the talk will show how the 1980s in America were a formative cultural period for the anti-Reaganites as well as the Reaganites, and in doing so will chart a new history of American protest.