The 1964 presidential campaign between Democrat Lyndon Johnson and Republican Barry Goldwater proved a watershed election in American history. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, this is the first historical account of this crucial election, and the transition it marked for the nation. Although Johnson defeated Goldwater in a landslide and liberalism seemed to ride triumphant, the liberal wave crashed almost immediately and conservatives came to dominate a resurgent Republican Party in the late twentieth century. The campaign itself was marked by sharp ideological divisions -- differences over the Vietnam war and federal power divided the parties, and racial issues dominated the campaign as candidates clashed over the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, racial factions disrupted the Democratic Convention, and George Wallace openly courted white supremacists. The election took place amid national turmoil and great historic events, such as "Freedom Summer, " the murder of civil rights activists, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Seldom had the nation fac

Gary Donaldson is a Louisiana State Board of Regents Scholar and the John D. LaFarge Professor in Social Justice at Xavier University.