Uncertain Empire: American History and the Idea of the Cold War

313 Pages·2012·5.438 MB·English

by  Joel Isaac, Duncan Bell (eds.),

Uncertain Empire
This page intentionally left blank
Uncertain Empire
American History and the Idea of the Cold War
E DITED BY J OEL ISAAC AND D UN CAN BELL

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With offi ces in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Copyright © Oxford University Press 2012
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
www.oup.com
Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University
Press, or as expressly permitt ed by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above
should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form and you
must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Uncertain empire : American history and the idea of the Cold War / edited by Joel Isaac and Duncan Bell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-982612-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-19-982614-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Politics and culture—United States—History—20th century.
2. Cold War—Social aspects—United States.
3. Cold War—Historiography. 4. World politics—1945–1989.
5. United States—Intellectual life—20th century.
6. United States—Foreign relations—Soviet Union.
7. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—United States.
I. Isaac, Joel, 1978– II. Bell, Duncan, 1976–
E169.12.U478 2012
9 73.91—dc23 2012003132

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
C ONTENTS
c k n o w Aledgments v ii
Contributors ix
I ntroduction
3
JOEL IS AAC AND DUN CAN BELL
A RPT ONE P RIS MS
. 1 o Cld War Degree Zero
19
A NDER S STEPHANSON
2. Exploring the Histories of the Cold War: A Pluralist Approach
51
O DD ARNE WESTAD
3. A History Best Served Cold
61
P HILIP MIROWSKI
4. Inventing Other Realities: What the Cold War Means
for Literary Studies
75
S TEVEN BELLETTO
A RPT TWO IVSTAS
. 5 The Geopolitical Vision: Th e Myth of an Outmatched USA
91

J OHN A. THOMPSON
vi Contents
6. War Envy and Amnesia: American Cold War Rewrites
of Russia’s War
115
A NN DOUGLAS
7. The Spirit of Democracy: Religious Liberty and American
Anti-Communism during the Cold War
141
A NDRE W PRESTON
8 . G od, the Bomb, and the Cold War: Th e Religious and Ethical
Debate Over Nuclear Weapons, 1945–1990
165
P AUL S. BOYER
9. Blues Under Siege: Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, and
the Idea of America
195
D ANIEL MATLIN
10. Cold War Culture and the Lingering Myth of Sacco
and Vanzett i
223
M OS HIK TEMKIN
11. Deconstructing “Cold War Anthropology”
245
P E TER MANDLER
12. Cognitive and Perceptual Training in the Cold War
Man-Machine System
267
S HARON GHAMARI-TABRIZI
n d e x I 295
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
In its earliest stages, this book project was supported by the Trevelyan Fund of
the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge. Planning for the volume was
also greatly aided by a conference held at Jesus College, Cambridge, in April
2007. Our thanks to all of the participants in the conference for their contribu-
tions. At a critical stage in the development of the manuscript, Eric Foner off ered
invaluable advice and encouragement. Finally, the editors wish to thank Susan
Ferber at OUP for her extensive and unfl agging support in bringing the volume
to completion.

vii
This page intentionally left blank
C ONTRIBUTOR S
Duncan isB eSlelnior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at the
University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ’s College.
Sevten Bellett o is Assistant Professor of English at Lafayett e College.
a Pul S. Boyer was Merle Curti Professor of History Emeritus at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison.
nAn Douglas is Parr Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia
University.
Sharon Ghamai-rTabrizi is an independent scholar.
Jeol Isaac is Lecturer in the History of Modern Political Th ought at the Univer-
sity of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ’s College.
e Pter Mandler is Professor of Modern Cultural History at the University of
Cambridge and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College.
aDn Matlin is Lecturer in the History of the United States of America since
1865 at Kings College London.
hPilip Mirowski is Carl Koch Professor of Economics and the History and
Philosophy of Science at the University of Notre Dame.
nAdrew Preston is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of
Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College.
nAders Stephanson is Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Professor

of History at Columbia University.
ix