"In this slim but highly stimulating book, Issel suggests that those conditions which constitute the stimuli for social change in the contemporary United States cannot be understood without an understanding of the practices of American capitalism.  The author's argument is highly persuasive, while the evidence that he presents certainly establishes the breadth of his central proposition.  Social Change in the United States, 1945-1983 is an impressive study."
 Kyklos: International Review for Social Sciences

"A balanced and comprehensive survey of recent American social historiography: urbanization, suburbanization, racial tensions and the shifting regional and economic centres of gravity towards Western and Southern regions are analyzed in detail."  
History (UK)

"Issel's best chapters are concerned less with economics actually than with the travails and possibilities of local politics.  His study confirms that lasting reform must begin and end at the grassroots."  
San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the major reference works for this period."  
History, Reviews of New Books

"Every historian of recent America will want to have a copy." 
Journal of Social History

"Recommended for general readers."
Library Journal