How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America“Here’s a book that would've split the sides of Thucydides. Wiener’s magical mystery tour of Cold War museums is simultaneously hilarious and the best thing ever written on public history and its contestation.“ —Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz “Jon Wiener, an astute observer of how history is perceived by the general public, shows us how official efforts to shape popular memory of the Cold War have failed. His journey across America to visit exhibits, monuments, and other historical sites, demonstrates how quickly the Cold War has faded from popular consciousness. A fascinating and entertaining book.” —Eric Foner, author of Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 "In How We Forgot the Cold War, Jon Wiener shows how conservatives tried—and failed—to commemorate the Cold War as a noble victory over the global forces of tyranny, a 'good war' akin to World War II. Displaying splendid skills as a reporter in addition to his discerning eye as a scholar, this historian's travelogue convincingly shows how the right sought to extend its preferred policy of 'rollback' to the arena of public memory. In a country where historical memory has become an obsession, Wiener’s ability to document the ambiguities and absences in these commemorations is an unusual accomplishment.” —Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America “In this terrific piece of scholarly journalism, Jon Wiener imaginatively combines scholarship on the Cold War, contemporary journalism, and his own observations of various sites commemorating the era to describe both what they contain and, just as importantly, what they do not. By interrogating the standard conservative brand of American triumphalism, Wiener offers an interpretation of the Cold War that emphasizes just how unnecessary the conflict was and how deleterious its aftereffects have really been.”—Ellen Schrecker, author of Many Are The Crimes: McCarthyism in America |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - DarthDeverell - LibraryThingIn How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America, Jon Wiener argues, “Despite the immense effort by conservatives to shape public memory of the Cold War, their monuments weren’t ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Shrike58 - LibraryThingA remarkably polite liberal critique of the unsuccessful efforts to sustain a tale of victorious triumphalism in regards to America's role in the Cold War. Wiener's method is incremental, as he ... Read full review
Contents
Forgetting the Cold War | 1 |
Korean War Monuments | 9 |
19461949 3 Getting Started The Churchill Memorial in Missouri | 45 |
The CIA Museum and the NSA Museum | 80 |
Patton Museum | 166 |
Uncovering the Secrets | 253 |
History Memory and the Cold War | 287 |
From the Cold War to the War in Iraq | 299 |
Other editions - View all
How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America Jon Wiener No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Air Force American atomic bomb attack Berlin Wall blacklist Bunker Bush Center China Churchill Memorial Churchill’s speech CIA Museum CNN’s Cold War Cold War Museum Cold War victory commemoration Communism Memorial communist conservative Cuba Cuban Missile Crisis David Greenglass declared defense détente display Eisenhower Elvis exhibit explains fallout shelter figure film freedom Germany Gorbachev Greenbrier Greenglass Hanford Hiss Hiss’s historian HUAC Ibid Kazan Kennedy Khrushchev MacArthur military military-industrial million monument naming names National Historic Landmark Nevada Test Nevada Test Site Newseum Nixon Library nuclear weapons official plutonium political president Presidential Press quoted radiation radioactive Reactor Reagan Library reported Rocky Flats Russian says Senate silo Soviet Union spies Stalin story There’s Titan told tour United USSR Venona Veterans Victims of Communism Vietnam visitors wall text Washington Post Weldon Spring West White House Whittaker Chambers World World War II wrote York
Bibliographic information
| Title | How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America Volume 0 of Titolo collana |
| Author | Jon Wiener |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of California Press, 2012 |
| ISBN | 0520271416, 9780520271418 |
| Length | 376 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |