An analysis and critical commentary on the general approach of American foreign policy toward Soviet Russia during the formative years of the Cold War. Whitcomb contends that the United States must bear a major share of the responsibility for the endless litany of conflicts, crises, and military confrontations that came to mark our foreign relations after 1945. Whitcomb shows that the American foreign affairs tradition led the country to entertain persistent misperceptions of the realities of the international arena in which it had to function. At the same time, Whitcomb points to the incompatability between many of the nation's most cherished values and the habits of action that Americans exhibited in their relationships with other states. An important post-revisionist view, this book will be of interest to American foreign policy for scholars and students alike.

This text presents an assessment of France's policies towards NATO between 1981 and 1997. It also provides a critical assessment of these policies. It argues that France's arms length relationship with NATO's integrated military structure served its purpose during the Cold War, but increasingly came to impose high costs thereafter. The author goes on to explain this somewhat puzzling fidelity to inappropriate policies as a function of domestic pressures on French policy makers.

Much has been made of the Federal Republic of Germany's stubborn disunity more than a decade after unification. This collection demonstrates at once the persistence of the initial anxieties about the new Germany and its rapid absorption of the former German Democratic Republic, and suggests as well a potential optimism, that despite much contemporary domestic disenchantment, the new Germany continues to thrive as a European democracy endeavoring to confront its past and embrace its transformed and increasingly diverse culture. Transformations of the New Germany proceeds historically from unification to the present tracing a series of case studies from several of unified Germany's highly contested debates.

Students, teachers, and interested readers can use this important resource to examine the evolution of the everyday lives of ordinary people in the United States from 1960 to 1990. The volatility of the civil rights movement; the impact of the baby boom generation; the influences of television, advertising, and other media; the emergence of environmental and consumer-protection movements; and the effects the Vietnam War and Watergate had on the American public are just a few of the issues examined and outlined. From the space age to the computer age, the user can explore how change-induced discord and adjustment to postmodern times led to cultural standoffs, affecting everyday lives.

For the first time the social history of the United States is examined in four chronological periods: 1960-1966, when modern ideals flourished and then began to fade; 1967-1974, when cultural changes began to remake America; 1975-1980, when the cultural changes led to standoffs between opposing sides; and the 1980s, when postmodern conditions broadened their influence and discord became more pronounced. Marty explores the details of everyday living that these time periods reflected: * the American dream home in suburbia* the influences of new technologies such as computers, portable stereos, and microwave ovens * the initial excitement of space exploration * the growing realities of dual-income and single-parent families and a vast number of other topics that help the user trace the evolution of this mutable and exciting time period.

From Billy Graham and Ronald Regan to Newt Gingrich and William Bennett, God is a Conservative provides an important look at the role of religion in conservative politics in modern America. Kenneth J. Heineman reveals the profoundly religious nature of contemporary conservatism, offering an intriguing look at the social history of moral politics over the last three decades, and the still tremulous aftershocks of the New Deal. With a new Preface that examines the Bush presidency, including a provocative analysis of his re-election, and the rising influence of the Conservative Right, God is a Conservative is essential reading for understanding today's American political landscape.

The first full-scale biography of one of the most important-and enigmatic-leaders in Israeli history This riveting biography is the first to provide a satisfactory answer to the question, Who was Menachem Begin? Based on wide-ranging research among archival documents and on testimonials and interviews with Begin's closest advisers, the book presents a detailed new portrait ofIsrael's founding leader. Among the many topics Avi Shilon holds up to new light are Begin's antagonistic relationship with David Ben-Gurion, his controversial role in the 1982 Lebanon War, his unique leadership style, the changes in his ideology over the years, and the mystery behind the total silence he maintained at the end of his career. Through Begin's remarkable life, the book also recounts the history of the right-wing segment of Israeli society, a story essential to understanding the Israel of today.

In a conversational style and in chronological sequence, Ye Weili and Ma Xiaodong recount their earlier lives in China from the 1950s to the 1980s, a particularly eventful period that included the catastrophic Cultural Revolution. Using their own stories as two case studies, they examine the making of a significant yet barely understood generation in recent Chinese history. They also reflect upon the mixed legacy of the early decades of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In doing so, the book strives for a balance between critical scrutiny of a complex era and the sweeping rejection of that era that recent victim literature embraces. Ultimately Ye and Ma intend to reconnect themselves to a piece of land and a period of history that have given them a sense of who they are. Their stories contain intertwining layers of personal, generational, and historical experiences. Unlike other memoirs that were written soon after the events of the Cultural Revolution, Ye and Ma's narratives have been put together some twenty years later, allowing for more critical distance. The passage of time has allowed them to consider important issues that other accounts omit, such as the impact of gender during this period of radical change in Chinese women's lives.

With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, in The Diamond Queen Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch - and to the monarchy, chronicling the Queen's pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze, and making a strong case for the institution itself. Arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, Marr dissects the Queen's political relationships, crucially those with her Prime Ministers; he examines her role as Head of the Commonwealth, and her deep commitment to that Commonwealth of nations; he looks at the drastic changes in the media since her accession in 1952 and how the monarchy - and the monarch - have had to change and adapt as a result. Indeed he argues that under her watchful eye, the monarchy has been thoroughly modernized and made as fit for purpose in the twenty-first century as it was when she came to the throne and a 'new Elizabethan age' was ushered in.

In 1947 German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was tried and convicted of war crimes committed during World War II. He was held responsible for his troops having executed nearly 9,000 Italian citizens--women, children, elderly men--in retaliation for partisan attacks. His conviction, however, created a real dilemma for the United States and western Europe. While some sought the harshest punishments available for anyone who had participated in the war crimes of the Nazi regime, others believed that the repatriation of alleged war criminals would help secure the allegiance of a rearmed West Germany in the dangerous new Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Kerstin von Lingen's close analysis of the Kesselring case reveals for the first time how a network of veterans, lawyers, and German sympathizers in Britain and America achieved the commutation of Kesselring's death sentence and his eventual release--reinforcing German popular conceptions that he had been innocent all along and that the Wehrmacht had fought a "clean war" in Italy. Synthesizing the work of contemporary German and Italian historians with her own exhaustive archival research, she shows that Kesselring bore much greater guilt for civilian deaths than had been proven in court--and that the war on the southern front had been far from clean.

Von Lingen weaves together strands of the story as diverse as Winston Churchill's ability to mobilize support among British elites, Basil Liddell Hart's need to be recognized as an important military thinker, and the Cold War fears of the "Senators' Circle" in the United States. Through this rich narrative, she shows how international politics shaped the trial's proceedings and outcome--as well as the memory and meaning of the war for German citizens--and sheds new light on the complex interplay between the combatants' efforts to "master the past" and the threatening state of international relations in the early Cold War.

In analyzing the efforts to clear Kesselring's name, von Lingen shows that the case was about much more than the fate of one convicted individual; it also underscored the pressure to wrap up the war crimes issue--and German guilt--in order to get on with the business of bringing a rearmed Germany into the Western alliance. Kesselring's Last Battle sheds new light on the "politics of memory" by unraveling a twisted thread in postwar history as it shows how historical truth is sometimes sacrificed on the altar of expediency.

In the latter half of the 20th century, a number of dissidents engaged in a series of campaigns against the Soviet authorities and as a result were subjected to an array of cruel and violent punishments. A collection of like-minded activists in Britain campaigned on their behalf, and formed a variety of organizations to publicise their plight. British Human Rights Organizations and Soviet Dissent, 1965-1985 examines the efforts of these activists, exploring how influential their activism was in shaping the wider public awareness of Soviet human rights violations in the context of the Cold War. Mark Hurst explores the British response to Soviet human rights violation, drawing on extensive archival work and interviews with key individuals from the period. This book examines the network of human rights activists in Britain, and demonstrates that in order to be fully understood, the Soviet dissident movement needs to be considered in an international context.

The New Look sought to formulate a more selective and flexible response to Communist challenges. The New Look was not simply a `bigger bang for a buck' nor merely a device for achieving a balanced budget, nor did it amount solely to a strategy of massive retaliation, as is commonly assumed. Dr Dockrill's incisive revisionist analysis of the subject throws new light on US ambitious global strategy during the Eisenhower years.

.Through the lenses of history this important book probes the events in Southeast Asia in the thirty years after 1945. This book compiles the most current scholarly interpretations on the causes and outcome of the Vietnam War. The contributors reflect on and discuss various aspects of the Vietnam conflicts and clear away many of the misconceptions and myths that still surround the wars. They try to understand how and why events in Southeast Asia happened as they did, and the impact they had both regionally and globally. A useful reference for any scholar of the Vietnam War, "The Vietnam War as History" will appeal to the general reader as well, particularly those who served in Vietnam.

The chapters offer a diverse set of approaches of the war. Many of the contributors disagree philosophically on the causes and nature of the conflict. Some--Thomas Cubbage and Harry Summers--write from their personal involvement in the war. Others take a more detached view. And still others seek to provide further insight into some of the twisted questions that surrounded the conflict. All are united in their attempts to come to terms with the wars in Vietnam as a distinct historical event.

Gosse, one of the foremost historians of the American postwar left, has crafted an engaging and concise synthetic history of the varied movements and organizations that have been placed under the broad umbrella known as the New Left. As one reader notes, gosse 'has accomplished something difficult and rare, if not altogether unique, in providing a studied and moving account of the full array of protest movements - from civil rights and Black Power, to student and antiwar protest, to women's and gay liberation, to Native American, Asian American, and Puerto Rican activism - that defined the American sixties as an era of powerfully transformative rebellions...His is a 'big-tent' view that shows just how rich and varied 1960s protest was.' In contrast to most other accounts of this subject, the SDS and white male radicals are taken out of the center of the story and placed more toward its margins. A prestigious project from a highly respected historian, The New Left in the United States, 1955-1975 will be a must-read for anyone interested in American politics of the postwar era.

Second term presidencies are distinctive, largely because as the president no longer has to run for reelection. Placing the second term of George W. Bush in comparative perspective, this fascinating book explores the political, institutional and policy implications of a second term. Combining topicality with analytical richness, this is an important resource for scholars and students.

In keeping with the tenets of socialist internationalism, the political culture of the German Democratic Republic strongly emphasized solidarity with the non-white world: children sent telegrams to Angela Davis in prison, workers made contributions from their wages to relief efforts in Vietnam and Angola, and the deaths of Patrice Lumumba, Ho Chi Minh, and Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired public memorials. Despite their prominence, however, scholars have rarely examined such displays in detail. Through a series of illuminating historical investigations, this volume deploys archival research, ethnography, and a variety of other interdisciplinary tools to explore the rhetoric and reality of East German internationalism.

The national cinemas of Czechoslovakia and East Germany were two of the most vital sites of filmmaking in the Eastern Bloc, and over the course of two decades, they contributed to and were shaped by such significant developments as Sovietization, de-Stalinization, and the conservative retrenchment of the late 1950s. This volume comprehensively explores the postwar film cultures of both nations, using a "stereoscopic" approach that traces their similarities and divergences to form a richly contextualized portrait. Ranging from features to children's cinema to film festivals, the studies gathered here provide new insights into the ideological, political, and economic dimensions of Cold War cultural production.

During his political career, Helmut Kohl used his own life story to promote a normalization of German nationalism and to overcome the stigma of the Nazi period. In the context of the cold war and the memory of the fascist past, he was able to exploit the combination of his religious, generational, regional, and educational (he has a PhD in History) experiences by connecting nationalist ideas to particular biographical narratives. Kohl presented himself as the embodiment of "normality": a de-radicalized German nationalism which was intended to eclipse any anti-Western and post-national peculiarities. This book takes a biographical approach to the study of nationalism by examining its manifestation in Helmut Kohl and the way he historicized Germany's past.

While the Netherlands had often been thought of as a champion of racial and ethnic tolerance before and during the Second World War, more than 75% of Dutch Jews were killed and those returning after the war were met with subtle but tough anti-Jewish sentiments as they tried to reclaim their former lives. For most survivors, the negative reactions were unexpected and shocking. Before the war, Dutch Jews had become part of the fabric of Dutch life and society, so the obstacles they faced upon their return were particularly painful and difficult to handle. The sobering picture presented in this book, based on research in archives, survivor's memoirs, and interviews with survivors, examines and chronicles the experiences of repatriated Jews in the Netherlands and sheds light on the continuing uneasiness and sensitivities between Jews and non-Jews there today. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, survivors returned to their home countries not knowing what to expect. In the Netherlands, considered a more tolerant nation, returnees wondered how they would be received by their neighbors; what had happened to their homes, their businesses, and their possessions; and whether or not they would be welcomed back to their jobs or their schools. The answers to many of these questions are now more important than ever, as claims for restitution continue to be made. Hondius shows that survivors returning to the Netherlands were met with a revival in anti-Semitism around the issue of liberation and that many were forced to create two memories of the time: one around the rejoicing and displays of triumph that took place in public and the other around the secret discrimination and cruelty, dealt subtly, inthe private arenas of everyday life. The blinding effect of a long history of generally good Jewish/non-Jewish relations turns out to be a most tragic aspect of the history of the Holocaust and the Netherlands.

"This book is an examination of German media attempts to deal with the recent past at a time of heightened Cold War tensions, focusing on East and West German radio broadcasts around the time of the first Auschwitz Trial in 1963. It highlights reportage on the trial and the ideological interpretations of the Holocaust used by broadcasters"--Provided by publisher.

Following the Revolutionary War, American Methodism grew at an astonishing rate, rising from fewer than 1000 members in 1770 to over 250,000 by 1820. In Taking Heaven by Storm, John H. Wigger seeks to explain this remarkable expansion, offering a provocative reassessment of the role of popular religion in American life.
Early Methodism was neither bland nor predictable; rather, it was a volatile and innovative movement, both driven and constrained by the hopes and fears of the ordinary Americans who constituted its core. Methodism's style, tone, and agenda worked their way deep into the fabric of American life, Wigger argues, influencing all other mass religious movements that would follow, as well as many facets of American life not directly connected to the church.
Wigger examines American Methodism from a variety of angles, focusing in turn on the circuit riders who relentlessly pushed the Methodist movement forward, the critical role of women and African Americans within the movement, the enthusiastic nature of Methodist worship, and the unique community structure of early American Methodism. Under Methodism's influence, American evangelism became far more enthusiastic, egalitarian, entrepreneurial, and lay oriented--characteristics that continue to shape and define popular religion today.

Sensationalist newspaper coverage of crime has been a matter of keen public interest. But what role has sensationalist reporting played in creating public understanding of the criminal justice system in England and Wales? This book provides an answer, presenting an engaging account of crime reportage from the late eighteenth century to the present day; from the era of specialist reporters to the days of modern investigative journalism. Written in a lively and accessible style and locating familiar crime stories from Constance Kent to Sara Payne in their contemporary presentations to newspaper readers, the chapters explore crime news in broadsheet, quality and tabloid publications and explain its importance to how the criminal justice system has been understood. The book identifies why particular crime stories came to public prominence and how these were constructed and presented for popular consumption, offering new ways of thinking about reportage and the criminal justice system.

Here, Vladimir Unkovski-Korica re-assesses the key episodes of Tito's rule - from the joint Stalin-Tito offensive of 1944, through to the Tito-Stalin split of 1948, the market reforms of the 1950s and the 'turn to the West' which led to Yugoslavia's non-alignment policy. For the first time, Unkovski-Korica also outlines Tito's internal battle with the Workers' Councils - empowered union bodies which emerged with the 'withering away of the party' in the early 1950s.The Economic Struggle for Power in Tito's Yugoslavia draws out the impact of the period economically and politically, and its long-term effects. A comprehensive history based on new archival research, this book will appeal to scholars and students of European Studies, International Relations and Politics, as well as to historians of the Balkans.