How we forgot the Cold War : a historical journey across America / Jon Wiener.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiener, Jon.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Politics and culture--United States--History--20th century.

Politics and culture.

Cold War--Historiography.

Cold War.

Cold War--Social aspects--United States.

Collective memory--United States.

Collective memory.

World politics--1945-1989.

World politics.

Conservatism--United States--History--20th century.

Conservatism.

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

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (385 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Hours after the USSR collapsed in 1991, Congress began making plans to establish the official memory of the Cold War. Conservatives dominated the proceedings, spending millions to portray the conflict as a triumph of good over evil and a defeat of totalitarianism equal in significance to World War II. In this provocative book, historian Jon Wiener visits Cold War monuments, museums, and memorials across the United States to find out how the era is being remembered. The author's journey provides a history of the Cold War, one that turns many conventional notions on their heads. In an engaging travelogue that takes readers to sites such as the life-size recreation of Berlin's "Checkpoint Charlie" at the Reagan Library, the fallout shelter display at the Smithsonian, and exhibits about "Sgt. Elvis," America's most famous Cold War veteran, Wiener discovers that the Cold War isn't being remembered. It's being forgotten. Despite an immense effort, the conservatives' monuments weren't built, their historic sites have few visitors, and many of their museums have now shifted focus to other topics. Proponents of the notion of a heroic "Cold War victory" failed; the public didn't buy the official story. Lively, readable, and well-informed, this book expands current discussions about memory and history, and raises intriguing questions about popular skepticism toward official ideology.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Forgetting the Cold War

PART ONE. THE END

PART TWO. THE BEGINNING: 1946-1949

PART THREE. THE 1950's

PART FOUR: THE 1960's AND AFTER

PART FIVE. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

Conclusion: History, Memory, and the Cold War

Epilogue: From the Cold War to the War in Iraq

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613823212

9781283003025

1283003023

9780520954250

0520954254

OCLC:

804661971