Liberty's Tears Soviet Portraits of the "American Way of Life" During the Cold War

by Ball, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780195375312
• ISBN10: 0195375319
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-02-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Published here for the first time in English, this unique collection of articles illustrates how the Soviet media portrayed the U.S. during the Cold War. Organized by topic, Liberty's Tears: Soviet Portraits of the "American Way of Life" During the Cold War offers commentary on diverse aspects of American life, including politics, money, crime, sports, religion, and popular culture. Exploring the propaganda struggle that played a significant role in the Cold War, Liberty's Tears includes articles from Soviet periodicals intended for a mass audience of ordinary citizens. Unlike the interminable speeches of party leaders presented in full pages of tiny print in Pravda and Izvestiia, these items were meant to be engaging and even entertaining for millions of casual Soviet readers. Headnotes and chapter introductions provide extensive context, while the provocative and critical focus on American life will be sure to spark student discussion.

Author Biography

Alan Ball is Professor of History at Marquette University. He is the author of Imagining America (2003), And Now My Soul is Hardened (1994), and Russia's Last Capitalists (1987).

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Periodicals
Note on Conventions
Introduction: The American Way of Life

Chapter 1: Politics
Democracy American Style
This Can Happen
Ronnie Shoots from the Hip
Voters from the Next World
The Personal Life of Congressman Gallagher
Still Just Warming Up
Will I Be Governor?
Mystery-Bouffe
Chapter 2: Capitalism
The Green Van
Mellon Shames Nero
People's Millionaires and People's Unemployed
Two Americas
Business By Swindling
Together with His Favorite Dog, Bertha
At the "Olympic Pie"
Chapter 3: Propaganda
Point-Blank Question
One Hundred Days in Saigon
Voice from the Swamp
Accredited in Moscow
A Million for a Myth
In the Fog of Slander
Personal Friend
Chapter 4: Police State
"I Refuse to Pay for the Rope which They Want to Use to Hang Me"
Not Very Secret Plaster
Black Lists
"Crime and Punishment"
Who is Next?
Political Hypocrites
The Mystery of the "Red Diary" of Marilyn Monroe
Chapter 5: America Abroad
Match With Tommy Fog
"Made in the USA"
The White American Butterfly
Meeting on the 37th Floor
A Substitution on the CIA Team
The Watch of Nicholas Sirgado
One Day at Noon Over Barbados
Chapter 6: Racism
That Was Lo-ong Ago!
Honeymoon
Murders on 14th Street
Racist Practices in the "Dream Factory"
Ordinary Racism
Chapter 7: Violence and Crime
Bringing Up Johnny
Ordinary Murder
A Detective Story on a State Scale
USA: A Society of Terror and Crime
And the Ladies Shoot
The United Trembling States
Armed Maniac in the "Coliseum"
Chapter 8: Culture
The Movie Poison of Wall Street
Johnny Lives in New York
On Playboy Magazine
Orgy at Finch College
"Hippy Land" Goes to the Bottom
How "Hits" are Made
Literary Highwayman
Chapter 9: Sports
Gloves or Handcuffs?
American Football
Princes and Beggars
Basketball in the USA
Behind the Scenes of the Professional Rings
In the Embrace of "Black Beauty"
Chapter 10: Religion
The Cardinal from Wall Street
Mama, Papa, Baby and Jehovah
Pornography and Sanctimonious People
The New Adventures of Darwin in America
Chapter 11: Women
Is this Really a "Friend"?
Anxiety About the Future
The Pretty Girls of LOOK and the Workday Routine of Mildred Mason
The Sad, Sad, Sad World. American Journalist Betty Friedan on the Position of Women in the USA
Mothers for Hire
How Difficult It is to be a Woman
Chapter 12: Overtaking America
Two Ideals
Stumbling in Space
"And How is it with Freedom Over There?"
Two Fates
Americans Learn About a Russian Farm
Why I Left America
Chapter 13: A Lighter Touch
Notes on Basketball in the USA
Meetings in Hollywood
Two Weeks in the USA
Roswell Garst and his Farm
Tommie-Rocket
How I Was an American Farmer
Conclusion