Contemporary authors like Lloyd Gardner and James Fallows argue that the Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan were unjustified and mismanaged. Fallows reflects on the administration's lack of planning and missteps post-September 11, while Gardner details the mismanagement and propaganda in his book "The Long Road to Baghdad." They emphasize that alternative approaches might have led to peaceful solutions and highlight the mixed motivations behind these conflicts.

Professor Robert Sean Wilentz's monograph, "The Age of Reagan: A History 1974-2008," provides a comprehensive historiography of Reaganism, tracing its rise from the Culture Wars of the 1960s and 1970s to its resurgence after the Clinton presidency. Wilentz argues that Reaganism, characterized by a blend of dogma, pragmatism, and mythology, was exclusionary and unresponsive to people's needs. He highlights Reagan's actions during the economic crises, the delayed response to the AIDS crisis, and the Iran-Contra affair as examples of its flaws. Despite these issues, Reaganism has become fully integrated into the Republican party platform, influencing modern governance and political discourse.

Barbara Keys, Jack Davies, and Elliot Bannan's article “The Post-Traumatic Decade: New Histories of the 1970’s” analyzes the causes and consequences of public disillusionment with the federal government in the 1970s. They argue that the decade was shaped by a search for recovery after trauma, leading to a revised sense of America's identity. The rise of conservatism and special interest groups in the 1980s, coupled with the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal, changed attitudes toward the federal government. Michael Stewart Foley's book Front Porch Politics details the divisive recovery process and the political sentiments forged during the 1970s.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s had a profound impact on American society and served as a model for other social change movements. Its success in challenging the Jim Crow regime and generating widespread social protest demonstrated that oppressed groups could achieve significant social change. The movement inspired other movements, including LGBTQIA+, environmental, and Native American movements, and even influenced global social movements.