The Cold War and American Culture (AMSA2H44-B-SEM2)
- Unit Code AMSA2H44
- School School of American Studies
- Credit Value 20
- Tutor(s) Dr Kaeten Mistry
- Overview
- Teaching
Overview
This module explores the way in which American society and culture was shaped during the years of the Cold War, the tense standoff between the two 'superpowers' between the end of World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work includes consideration of the key events, issues, and concepts in the history of the Cold War, from the division of Europe and the Marshall Plan, the emergence of the Truman Doctrine, the impact of the Chinese Revolution, through the Cuban missile crisis, the period of detente in the 1970s and the chilling of US-Soviet relations during the 'second Cold War' of the early 1980s. Particular attention is given to the impact of those events in the USA, upon the ways in which Cold War anxieties were represented ' and, also, the ways in which anxieties about American society became meshed in the Cold War. Discussion will range across issues from the bomb and the space race to the family, gender, and race. Throughout, particular use will be made of visual sources and film.

