The Propaganda of Freedom : JFK, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and the Cultural Cold War / Joseph Horowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Horowitz, Joseph, 1948- author.

Series:

Music in American life.

Music in American Life Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Music.

Music--Political aspects--Soviet Union--History--20th century.

Cold War--Music and the war.

Cold War.

Congress for Cultural Freedom.

Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963.

Kennedy, John F.

Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich, 1906-1975.

Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich.

Stravinsky, Igor, 1882-1971.

Stravinsky, Igor.

Nabokov, Nicolas, 1903-1978.

Nabokov, Nicolas.

United States.

Soviet Union.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, [2023]

Summary:

"Eloquently extolled by President John F. Kennedy, the idea that only artists in free societies can produce great art became a bedrock assumption of the Cold War. That this conviction defied centuries of historical evidence--to say nothing of achievements within the Soviet Union--failed to impact impregnable cultural Cold War doctrine. Horowitz shows how the efforts of the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom were distorted by an anti-totalitarian "psychology of exile" traceable to its secretary general, the displaced Russian aristocrat/composer Nicolas Nabokov, and to Nabokov's hero Igor Stravinsky. In counterpoint, Horowitz investigates personal, social, and political factors that actually shape the creative act. He focuses on Stravinsky, who in Los Angeles experienced a "freedom not to matter," and Dmitri Shostakovich, who was both victim and beneficiary of Soviet cultural policies. He also takes a fresh look at cultural exchange and explores paradoxical similarities and differences framing the popularization of classical music in the Soviet Union and the United States. In closing, he assesses the Kennedy administration's arts advocacy initiatives and their pertinence to today's fraught American national identity. Challenging long-entrenched myths, this book newly explores the tangled relationship between the ideology of freedom and ideals of cultural achievement"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Foreword. Why and What

JFK, the Artist, and "Free Societies" : A Cold War Myth

Nicolas Nabokov and the Cultural Cold War

Lines of Battle : The Case for Stravinsky;

The Case against Shostakovich

CIA Cultural Battlegrounds : New York and Paris

Survival Strategies : Stravinsky and Shostakovich

Survival Strategies : Nicolas Nabokov

Cold War Music, East and West

Enter Cultural Exchange

Summing Up : Culture, the State, and the "Propaganda of Freedom"

Afterword. The Arts, National Purpose, and the Pandemic.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

Other Format:

Print version: Horowitz, Joseph The Propaganda of Freedom

ISBN:

9780252054792

0252054792

OCLC:

1365767389