Although often framed as an economic, military, and diplomatic
confrontation, the Cold War was above all a conflict of ideas. In
official pronouncements and publications as well as via radio
broadcasts, television, and film, the United States and the Soviet
Union both sought to extend their global reach as much through the
power of persuasion as by the use of force. Yet of all the means
each side employed to press its ideological case, none proved more
reliable or successful than print.
In this volume, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore
the myriad ways print was used in the Cold War. Looking at
materials ranging from textbooks and cookbooks to art catalogs,
newspaper comics, and travel guides, they analyze not only the
content of printed matter but also the material circumstances of
its production, the people and institutions that disseminated it,
and the audiences that consumed it. Among the topics discussed are
the infiltration of book publishing by propagandists East and West;
the distribution of pro-American printed matter in postwar Japan
through libraries, schools, and consulates; and the collaboration
of foundations, academia, and the government in the promotion of
high culture as evidence of the superiority of Western values.
At the same time, many of the qualities that made print the
preferred medium of official propaganda also made it an effective
instrument for challenging Cold War orthodoxies at home and abroad.
Because printed materials were relatively easy to transport, to
copy, and to share, they could just as well be used to bridge
differences among people and cultures as to exploit them. They also
provided a vehicle for disseminating satire and other expressions
of dissent.
In addition to the volume editors, contributors include Ed
Brunner, Russell Cobb, Laura Jane Gifford, Patricia Hills,
Christian Kanig, Scott Laderman, Amanda Laugesen, Martin Manning,
Kristin Matthews, Hiromi Ochi, Amy Reddinger, and James Smith.
Together their essays move beyond traditional Cold War narratives
to gauge the role of a crucial cultural medium in the ideological
battle between the superpowers and their surrogates. Gregory
Barnhisel and Catherine Turner Gregory Barnhisel and Catherine
Turner
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