For nearly a half century, from 1945 to 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union maneuvered to achieve global hegemony. Each forged political alliances, doled out foreign aid, mounted cultural campaigns, and launched covert operations. The Cold War also deeply affected the domestic politics, cultures, and economic policies of the two superpowers, their client states, and other nations throughout the world. Teaching the Cold War is both necessary and challenging. Understanding and Teaching the Cold War is designed to help collegiate and high school teachers navigate the complexity of the topic, integrate up-to-date research and concepts into their classes, and use strategies and tools that make this important history meaningful to students. The volume opens with Matthew Masur's overview of models for approaching the subject, whether in survey courses or seminars. Two prominent historians, Carole Fink and Warren Cohen, offer accounts of their experience as long-time scholars and teachers of the Cold War from European and Asian perspectives. Sixteen essays dig into themes including the origins and end of the conflict, nuclear weapons, diplomacy, propaganda, fear, popular culture, and civil rights, as well as the Cold War in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, East Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the nonaligned nations. A final section provides practical advice for using relevant, accessible primary sources to implement the teaching ideas suggested in this book.

South Africa is the most industrialized power in Africa. It was rated the continent's largest economy in 2016 and is the only African member of the G20. It is also the only strategic partner of the EU in Africa. Yet despite being so strategically and economically significant, there is little scholarship that focuses on South Africa as a regional hegemon. This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of South Africa's post-Apartheid foreign policy. Over its 23 chapters - -and with contributions from established Africa, Western, Asian and American scholars, as well as diplomats and analysts - the book examines the current pattern of the country's foreign relations in impressive detail. The geographic and thematic coverage is extensive, including chapters on: the domestic imperatives of South Africa's foreign policy; peace-making; defence and security; bilateral relations in Southern, Central, West, Eastern and North Africa; bilateral relations with the US, China, Britain, France and Japan; the country's key external multilateral relations with the UN; the BRICS economic grouping; the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP); as well as the EU and the World Trade Organization (WTO). An essential resource for researchers, the book will be relevant to the fields of area studies, foreign policy, history, international relations, international law, security studies, political economy and development studies.

"Cultural Responses to Occupation in Japan" examines how the performing arts, and the performing body specifically, have shaped and been shaped by the political and historical conditions experienced in Japan during the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. This study of original and secondary materials from the fields of theatre, dance, performance art, film and poetry probes the interrelationship that exists between the body and the nation-state. Important artistic works, such as Ankoku Butoh (dance of darkness) and its subsequent re-interpretation by a leading political performance company Gekidan Kaitaisha (theatre of deconstruction), are analysed using ethnographic, historical and theoretical modes. This approach reveals the nuanced and prolonged effects of military, cultural and political occupation in Japan over a duration of dramatic change."Cultural Responses to Occupation in Japan" explores issues of discrimination, marginality, trauma, memory and the mediation of history in a ground-breaking work that will be of great significance to anyone interested in the symbiosis of culture and conflict.""

The Cold War began almost immediately after the end of World War II and the defeat of the Nazis in Europe. As images of the Nazis' atrocities became part of American culture's common store, the evil of their old enemy, beyond the Nazis as a wartime opponent, became increasingly important. As America tried to describe the danger represented by the spread of Communism, it fell back on descriptions of Nazism to make the threat plain through comparison. At the heart of the tensions of that era lay the inconsistency of using one kind of evil to describe another. The book addresses this tension in regards to McCarthyism, campaigns to educate the public about Communism, attempts to raise support for wars in Asia, and the rhetoric of civil rights. Each of these political arenas is examined through their use of Nazi analogies in popular, political, and literary culture. The Nazi Card is an invaluable look at the way comparisons to Nazis are used in American culture, the history of those comparisons, and the repercussions of establishing a political definition of evil.

Through interviews with developers, gamers, and journalists examining the phenomena of bedroom coding, arcade gaming, and format wars, mapped onto enquiry into the seminal genres of the time including driving, shooting, and maze chase, Playback: A Genealogy of 1980s British Videogames examines how 1980s Britain has become the culture of work in the 21st century and considers its meaning to contemporary society. This crucial and timely work fills a lacuna for students and researchers of sociology, media, and games studies and will be of interest to employees of the videogames and media industries. Research into videogames have never been greater, but exploration of their historic drivers is as elided as the technology is influential, giving rise to a range of questions. What were the social and economic conditions that gave rise to a billion dollar industry? What were the motivations of the early 'bedroom coders'? What are the legacies of the seminal videogames of the 1980s and how do they inform the current social, political and cultural landscape? With a focus on the characteristics of the UK videogame industry in the 1980s, Wade explores these questions from perspectives of consumption, production and leisure, outlining the construction of a habitus unique to this time.

Friendships between women and gay men captivated the American media in the opening decade of the 21st century. John Portmann places this curious phenomenon in its historical context, examining the changing social attitudes towards gay men in the postwar period and how their relationships with women have been portrayed in the media. As women and gay men both struggled toward social equality in the late 20th century, some women understood that defending gay men - who were often accused of effeminacy - was in their best interest. Joining forces carried both political and personal implications. Straight women used their influence with men to prevent bullying and combat homophobia. Beyond the bureaucratic fray, women found themselves in transformed roles with respect to gay men - as their mothers, sisters, daughters, caregivers, spouses, voters, employers and best friends. In the midst of social hostility to gay men during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, a significant number of gay women volunteered to comfort the afflicted and fight reigning sexual values. Famous women such as Elizabeth Taylor and Barbra Streisand threw their support behind a detested minority, while countless ordinary women did the same across America. Portmann celebrates not only women who made the headlines but also those who did not. Looking at the links between the women's liberation and gay rights movements, and filled with concrete examples of personal and political relationships between straight women and gay men, Women and Gay Men in the Postwar Period is an engaging and accessible study which will be of interest to students and scholars of 20th- and 21st century social and gender history.

With the spread of manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese cartoons) around the world, many have adopted the Japanese term 'otaku' to identify fans of such media. The connection to manga and anime may seem straightforward, but, when taken for granted, often serves to obscure the debates within and around media fandom in Japan since the term 'otaku' appeared in the niche publication Manga Burikko in 1983. Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan disrupts the naturalization and trivialization of 'otaku' by examining the historical contingency of the term as a way to identify and contain problematic youth, consumers and fan cultures in Japan. Its chapters, many translated from Japanese and available in English for the first time - and with a foreword by Otsuka Eiji, former editor of Manga Burikko - explore key moments in the evolving discourse of 'otaku' in Japan. Rather than presenting a smooth, triumphant narrative of the transition of a subculture to the mainstream, the edited volume repositions 'otaku' in specific historical, social and economic contexts, providing new insights into the significance of the 'otaku' phenomenon in Japan and the world. By going back to original Japanese documents, translating key contributions by Japanese scholars and offering sustained analysis of these documents and scholars, Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan provides alternative histories of and approaches to 'otaku'. For all students and scholars of contemporary Japan and the history of Japanese fan and consumer cultures, this volume will be a foundation for understanding how 'otaku', at different places and times and to different people, is meaningful.

This study examines the role of modern sports in constructing national identities and the way leaders have exploited sports to achieve domestic and foreign policy goals. The book focuses on the development of national sporting cultures in Great Britain and the United States, the particular processes by which the rest of Europe and the world adopted or rejected their games, and the impact of sports on domestic politics and foreign affairs. Teams competing in international sporting events provide people a shared national experience and a means to differentiate "us" from "them." Particular attention is paid to the transnational influences on the construction of sporting communities, and why some areas resisted dominant sporting cultures while others adopted them and changed them to fit their particular political or societal needs. A recurrent theme of the book is that as much as they try, politicians have been frustrated in their attempts to achieve political ends through sport. The book provides a basis for understanding the political, economic, social, and diplomatic contexts in which these games were played, and to present issues that spur further discussion and research.

The Reagan era is usually seen as an era of unheralded prosperity, and as a high-watermark of Republican success. President Ronald Reagan's belief in "Reaganomics", his media-friendly sound-bites and "can do" personality have come to define the era. However, this was also a time of domestic protest and unrest. Under Reagan the US was directly involved in the revolutions which were sweeping the Central Americas- El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala -and in Nicaragua Reagan armed the Contras who fought the Sandinistas. This book seeks to show how the left within the US reacted and protested against these events. The Nation, Verso Books and the Guardian exploded in popularity, riding high on the back of popular anti-interventionist sentiment in America, while the film-maker Oliver Stone led a group of directors making films with a radical left-wing message. The author shows how the1980s in America were a formative cultural period for the anti-Reaganites as well as the Reaganites, and in doing so charts a new history.

Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, a city that he loved, Jonathan Foster was forced to come to grips with its reputation for racial violence. In so doing, he began to question how other cities dealt with similar kinds of stigmas that resulted from behavior and events that fell outside accepted norms. He wanted to know how such stigmas changed over time and how they affected a city's reputation and residents. Those questions led to this examination of the role of stigma and history in three very different cities: Birmingham, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. In the era of civil rights, Birmingham became known as ""Bombingham,"" a place of constant reactionary and racist violence. Las Vegas emerged as the nation's most recognizable Sin City, and San Francisco's tolerance of homosexuality made it the perceived capital of Gay America. Stigma Cites shows how cultural and political trends influenced perceptions of disrepute in these cities, and how, in turn, their status as sites of vice and violence influenced development decisions, from Birmingham's efforts to shed its reputation as racist, to San Francisco's transformation of its stigma into a point of pride, to Las Vegas's use of gambling to promote tourism and economic growth. The first work to investigate the important effects of stigmatized identities on urban places, Foster's innovative study suggests that reputation, no less than physical and economic forces, explains how cities develop and why. An absorbing work of history and urban sociology, the book illuminates the significance of perceptions in shaping metropolitan history.

The slow collapse of the European colonial empires after 1945 provides one of the great turning points of twentieth century history. With the loss of India however, the British under Harold Macmillan attempted to enforce a 'second' colonial occupation - supporting the efforts of Sir Andrew Cohen of the Colonial Office to create a Central African Federation. Drawing on newly released archival material, The Politics and Economics of Decolonization in Africa offers a fresh examination of Britain's central African territories in the late colonial period and provides a detailed assessment of how events in Britain, Africa and the UN shaped the process of decolonization. The author situates the Central African Federation - which consisted of modern day Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi - in its wider international context, shedding light on the Federation's complex relationships with South Africa, with US Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy and with the expanding United Nations. The result is an important history of the last days of the British Empire and the beginnings of a more independent African continent.

Women and Democracy in Cold War Japan offers a fresh perspective on gender politics by focusing on the Japanese housewife of the 1950s as a controversial representation of democracy, leisure, and domesticity. Examining the shifting personae of the housewife, especially in the appealing texts of women's magazines, reveals the diverse possibilities of postwar democracy as they were embedded in media directed toward Japanese women. Each chapter explores the contours of a single controversy, including debate over the royal wedding in 1959, the victory of Japan's first Miss Universe, and the unruly desires of postwar women. Jan Bardsley also takes a comparative look at the ways in which the Japanese housewife is measured against equally stereotyped notions of the modern housewife in the United States, asking how both function as narratives of Japan-U.S. relations and gender/class containment during the early Cold War.

This single-volume work provides a concise, up-to-date, and reliable reference work that students, teachers, and general readers can turn to for a comprehensive overview of the civil rights movement-a period of time incorporating events that shaped today's society. This single volume encyclopedia not only provides accessible A-Z entries about the well-known people and events of the Civil Rights Movement but also offers coverage of lesser-known contributors to the movement's overall success and outcomes. This comprehensive work provides both authoritative ready reference and curricular content presented in a lively and accessible format that will support inquiry, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the importance of the time period. The Civil Rights Movement in America: From Black Nationalism to the Women's Political Council provides high school readers with accessible factual information and sources for further exploration. Its entries serve to document how the movement eventually toppled Jim Crow and inspired broader struggles for human rights, including the women's and gay liberation movements in the United States and around the globe. Just as importantly, the events of the civil rights movement serve to demonstrate the ability of ordinary people such as Rosa Parks to alter the course of history-an apt lesson for all readers. Includes primary documents such as the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 accompanied by introductory essays that provide key historical context Supplies entries on a broad cast of actors, ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to Septima Clark, Virginia and Clifford Durr, Rosa Parks, and The Last Poets, thereby capturing the diversity of those who fought for racial equality Provides sidebars and carefully selected images that bring this people's movement to life for high school readers-personal stories; descriptions of lesser-known individuals, organizations, and speeches; connections to popular culture; and maps of the freedom ride route

At midnight on 30 June 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty after 150 years of British rule. The moment when the British flag came down was dramatic enough but the ten years leading up to it were full of surprising incident and change. These 'Letters from Hong Kong', written by an Englishwoman who was involved in those events from 1987, are both an unusual historical record and a heartwarming account of women's domestic, intellectual and political activity. This epilogue brings Hong Kong up to date ten years after the Handover.

Nerve agents are the world's deadliest means of chemical warfare. Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and massive industry for their manufacture-yet, strangely, the Third Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve agents' gradual spread across the world, despite international arms control efforts. They've been deployed in the Iran-Iraq War, by terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in Malaysia and Salisbury-always with bitter consequences. 'Toxic' recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers.

Cuba has undergone dramatic changes since the collapse of European communism. The loss of economic aid and preferential trade with the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries forced the Cuban government to search out new ways of organizing the domestic economy and new commercial relations in an international system dominated by market economies. The resulting economic reforms have reverberated through Cuban society and politics, recreating social inequalities unknown since the 1950s and confronting the political system with unprecedented new challenges. The resulting ferment is increasingly evident in Cuban cultural expression, and the responses to adversity and scarcity have reshaped Cuban social relations. This completely revised and updated edition focuses on Cuba since Raul Castro took over the country's leadership in 2006. A Contemporary Cuba Reader brings together the best recent scholarship and writing on Cuban politics, economics, foreign relations, society, and culture in present-day Cuba. Ideally suited for students and general readers seeking to understand this still-contentious and controversial island, the book includes a substantive introduction setting the historical context, as well as part introductions and a chronology. Supplementary resources for students and professors are available here. Contributions by: Carlos Alzugaray Treto, Denise Blum, Philip Brenner, Michael J. Bustamante, Mariela Castro, Soraya M. Castro Marino, Maria Auxiliadora Cesar, Armando Chaguaceda, Margaret E. Crahan, Simon C. Darnell, Antonio Aja Diaz, Jorge I. Dominguez, Maria Isabel Dominguez, Tracey Eaton, H. Michael Erisman, Richard E. Feinberg, Reina Fleitas Ruiz, Edmundo Garcia, Graciela Gonzalez Olmedo, Conner Gorry, Katrin Hansing, Adrian H. Hearn, Ted A. Henken, Rafael Hernandez, Monica Hirst, Robert Huish, Marguerite Rose Jimenez, Antoni Kapcia, C. William Keck, Emily J. Kirk, John M. Kirk, Hal Klepak, Sinan Koont, Par Kumaraswami, Saul Landau, William M. LeoGrande, Sandra Levinson, Esteban Morales, Nancy Morejon, Blanca Munster Infante, Armando Nova Gonzalez, Manuel Orozco, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Omar Everleny Perez Villanueva, Philip Peters, Camila Pineiro Harnecker, Clotilde Proveyer Cervantes, Archibald Ritter, Ana M. Ruiz Aguirre, Daniel Salas Gonzalez, Jorge Mario Sanchez Egozcue, Ann Marie Stock, Julia E. Sweig, Carlos Varela, Sjamme van de Voort, and Maria del Carmen Zabala Arguelles.

Last Call for the African-American Church revisits the commandment Jesus left his followers to proclaim the gospel worldwide until his return, one that by all accounts is no longer a priority in the contemporary African-American church. Despite the presence of euphoric praise-and-worship celebrations and the proliferation of diverse ministries it advertises as "cutting edge," the implosion of missions has occurred in this church's pulpits and pews. Selected biblical foundations of missions are provided for those new to the parlance, and for others needing a refresher course. Along with conventional missions' distinctions, Chester Williams logs some concepts in the glossary he himself has constructed, for readers and for collegial review. They include the feminization of missions, rummage sale missions, missions without Jesus, and window dressing missions. For the most part, these concepts represent a radical departure from apostolic missions and are viewed as biblical tinkering and convolution, most importantly, as obstructions to the Great Commission-world harvesting.

Mid-twentieth-century Florida was a state in flux. Changes exemplified by rapidly burgeoning cities and suburbs, the growth of the Kennedy Space Center during the space race, and the impending construction of Walt Disney World overwhelmed the outdated 1885 constitution. A small group of rural legislators known as the "Pork Chop Gang" controlled the state and thwarted several attempts to modernize the constitution. Through court-imposed redistribution of legislators and the hard work of state leaders, however, the executive branch was reorganized and the constitution was modernized. In Making Modern Florida, Mary Adkins goes behind the scenes to examine the history and impact of the 1966-68 revision of the Florida state constitution. With storytelling flair, Adkins uses interviews and detailed analysis of speeches and transcripts to vividly capture the moves, gambits, and backroom moments necessary to create and introduce a new state constitution. This carefully researched account brings to light the constitutional debates and political processes in the growth to maturity of what is now the nation's third largest state.