The Culture of the Cold War

by Whitfield, Stephen J.

• ISBN13: 9780801851957
• ISBN10: 0801851955
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-04-22
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

"Without the Cold War, what's the point of being an American?" As if in answer to this poignant question from John Updike's Rabbit at Rest, Stephen Whitfield examines the impact of the Cold War -- and its dramatic ending -- on American culture in an updated version of his highly acclaimed study. In a new epilogue to this second edition, he extends his analysis from the McCarthyism of the 1950s, including its effects on the American and European intelligensia, to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond.Whitfield treats his subject matter with the eye of a historian, reminding the reader that the Cold War is now a thing of the past. His treatment underscores the importance of the Cold War to our national identity and forces the reader to ask, Where do we go from here? The question is especially crucial for the Cold War historian, Whitfield argues. His new epilogue is partly a guide for new historians to tackle the complexities of Cold War studies.

Author Biography

Stephen J. Whitfield is Max Richter Chair in American Civilization at Brandeis University. He is the author of A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till and A Critical American: The Politics of Dwight Macdonald

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii	(2)
Acknowledgments	ix
1. Politicizing Culture: Suspicious Minds	1	(26)
2. Seeing Red: The Stigma	27	(26)
3. Assenting: The Trend of Ideology	53	(24)
4. Praying: God Bless America	77	(24)
5. Informing: Many Are Called	101	(26)
6. Reeling: The Politics of Film	127	(26)
7. Boxed-In: Television and the Press	153	(26)
8. Dissenting: Pity the Land	179	(26)
9. Thawing: A Substitute for Victory	205	(26)
Epilogue	231	(12)
Bibliographical Essay	243	(24)
Index	267