Existing comment:
Contemporary Americans: 2000-Present
Although the millennium began with great promise, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, triggered seismic shifts in both American culture and international politics. People came to realize the degree to which the nation had been operating in isolation. The Great Recession of 2008 and 2009 burst the housing bubble, and the government was forced to support bail-outs and other guarantees in the face of bleak unemployment rates.
Over the past two decades, the United States has become embroiled in unpopular and controversial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Issues of immigration continue to divide the nation, and weather-related crises have made it impossible to ignore country's failing infrastructure.
Though no single figure characterizes the contemporary era, American-led activism and such movements as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and March for Our Lives, have created worldwide protest. Increasingly sophisticated forms of social media continue to fuel grassroots efforts, contributing to the development of a global democracy. An era of radical change perhaps best characterizes the contemporary moment. |