Cold War Fantasies: Film, Fiction, and Foreign Policy

(Paperback)

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Description

As memories of the Cold War recede, it becomes more and more difficult to remember what it was about and why it evoked such feelings of intensity and fatalism. Fortunately, we have a gold mine of movies and novels to help us recall why an entire generation of Americans grew up ducking under school desks in air raid drills and stocking the family bomb shelter. Cold War Fantasies retrieves those times, based on the idea that a nation's history, self-concept, and collective anxiety are reflected in popular culture. In Cold War Fantasies, Ronnie Lipschutz combines an historical account of foreign and domestic politics from 1945 to 1995 with summaries and analyses of 30 novels and films contemporaneously published and produced. Lipschutz rejects the standard line on the Cold War and critically examines the impacts and effects of language and images on politics. Viewing those films and reading those novels enables the reader to come away with a clearer sense of how people felt during the Cold War period - about themselves, about the enemy, and about the world while living in the shadow of the atomic bomb.

Reviews

Useful for gathering ideas for a foreign policy and film/novel course. * Choice Reviews *
Lipschutz presents an accessible, yet thoughtful account of the political activities and cultural climate of the Cold War, using discussion on films (mostly) and some fiction as pedagogical tools. Certainly this book could nicely shape a course, but self-study is as convenient as the local video store. * Reference and Research Book News *
The historical narrative that drives the plot forward is brilliantly executed. Lipschutz's narrative is deceptively easy to read. He skillfully weaves the two texts together and packs a lot of information into a confined space without ever losing his story's momentum. * Millennium *
Lipschutz provides an accessible pedagogical tool to enliven historical studies with film and illuminate broader political and economic issues on cinema and literature. * Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal *
What can films like Bladerunner or Invasion of the Body Snatchers and novels such as 1984 or Rising Sun, tell us about the Cold War and U.S. foreign policy Quite a lot, it turns out. In a delightful book suitable both for teaching and for a popular audience, Ronnie Lipschutz provides a fresh and accessible account of U.S. foreign policy since World War II. His lucid and entertaining analysis moves easily from fact to fiction, and back again, highlighting the continuities and interconnections between popular culture and state policy. -- Jutta Weldes, University of Bristol, U.K.

Author Bio

Ronnie D. Lipschutz is professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.