Rethinking Cold War culture / edited by Peter J. Kuznick and James Gilbert.

Format:

Book

Government document

Contributor:

Kuznick, Peter J.

Gilbert, James Burkhart.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Civilization--1945-.

United States.

Civilization.

Cold War--Social aspects--United States.

Cold War.

Social aspects.

United States--Social conditions--1945-.

Social conditions.

United States--Intellectual life--20th century.

Intellectual life.

Popular culture--United States--History--20th century.

Popular culture.

History.

Political culture--United States--History--20th century.

Political culture.

Physical Description:

vi, 232 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, [2001]

Summary:

Rethinking Cold War Culture questions widespread assumptions about the culture of postwar America. Illuminating the origins and development of the many threads that constituted American culture during the Cold War, the contributors challenge the existence of a monolithic culture during the 1950s and thereafter. They demonstrate instead that there was more to American society than conformity, political conservatism, consumerism, and middle-class values. They explore the multitude of ways in which Americans experienced the Cold War, reflecting profound differences among generations, genders, races, and classes.

By examining popular culture, politics, economics, gender relations, and civil rights, the contributors contend that, while there was little fundamentally new about American culture in the Cold War era, the Cold War shaped and distorted virtually every aspect of American life. Interacting with long-term historical trends related to demographics, technological change, and economic cycles, four new elements dramatically influenced American politics and culture: the threat of nuclear annihilation, the use of surrogate and covert warfare, the intensification of anticommunist ideology, and the rise of a powerful military-industrial complex.

This provocative dialogue by leading historians promises to reshape readers' understanding of America during the Cold War, revealing a complex interplay of historical norms and political influences.

Contents:

U.S. Culture and the Cold War / Peter J. Kuznick, James Gilbert

America's children in an era of war, hot and cold: the Holocaust, the bomb, and child rearing in the 1940s / William M. Tuttle Jr.

Cold War workers, Cold War communities / Ann Markusen

The illusion of unity in Cold War culture / Alan Brinkley

"We'll follow the old man": the strains of sentimental militarism in popular films of the fifties / Christian G. Appy

Sex, gender, and the Cold War language of reform / Joanne Meyerowitz

Containment at home: gender, sexuality, and national identity in Cold War America / Jane Sherron De Hart

"Cold War culture" doesn't say it all / Peter Filene

Still the best catch there is: Joseph Heller's Catch-22 / Stephen J. Whitfield

Will the sixties never end? Or perhaps at least the thirties? Or maybe even the progressive era? Contrarian thoughts on change and continuity in American political culture at the turn of the millennium / Leo P. Ribuffo.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

156098869X

1560988959

OCLC:

44885157