Culture Wars charts the battle between two generations, one shaped by the immediate postwar period and the other by the cultural revolt of the 1960s. It was a clash that first exploded in the 1980s, when the conservative press and government ridiculed radical young politicians as the "loony left." However, the values and political agenda of the urban left made significant advances in the 1990s and 2000s when the sixties generation moved into positions of power. The book also explores how the media represents and influences social change.