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In his, Culture of the Cold War, Stephen J. Whitfield does an excellent job of documenting a recent past that is still vivid to many who experienced it. The book is divided into individual studies of the major components of politics, religion, popular culture, and various forms of media which characterized the era. The highlight is his study of how popular culture of the period contributed significantly to the dominant political climate throughout the nation. During this era books, movies, and especially television were powerful cultural stimuli and many were very skillful at using these tools to sway popular thought, and document this aspect of the American past. While Whitfield clearly describes the major events and personalities of the Cold War era, he places special emphasis on the way militant anti-communism influenced the movie industry, television, and print media. The author also devotes much of the text to religious influence of the Cold War. This era produced a new religious “superstar”. The national media and the anti-communist feeling of the general population allowed popular evangelists to bring their mainly anti-communist message to millions. Religious “celebrities” like Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale, and Francis Cardinal Spellman were able to mix their spiritual message with a message of national defense and anti-communist politics. Preachers like Billy Graham rose to great prominence because of the message they delivered, “…mixing the fear of [nuclear] Armageddon with the assurance of redemption.” Overall Whitfield's The Culture of the Cold War, Second Edition offers a good overview of the Cold War period and provides a excellent study of post-World War II culture in the United States. This book gives emphasis to the importance of the Cold War to our national identity. In his epilogue, the author provides an essay on the challenges of documenting Cold War history for modern historians. In challenging these scholars and summarizing the importance of the period the author quotes John Updike’s character Harry Angstrom in Rabbit at Rest (1990) “Without the Cold War, what’s the point of being an American?” (p. 231) “That question,” according to Whitfield, “remains at the center of the national destiny and identity.” (p. 241)Read full review
I had to buy this book because my girlfriends needed this book for a college class she was taking this semester.