Altered States: America since the Sixties cover the last 45 years and the most recent developments in American environmental, cultural and political affairs. The triumph of consumerism, cultural wars, conflicts over health care, civil rights, religious values and pressures in the political system are all described in depth. Black also analyzes the USA's role abroad, from Nixon's Vietnam to Bush Junior's Iraq. His account of the USA is of a continent pretending to be a country, of the juxtaposition of unitary and divisive pressures that reflect and sustain the essential character of country, society and state. Altered States is a wide-ranging and cogent evaluation of recent American history, which will appeal to the general reader and also provide a concise introduction for students.