{"product_id":"uncertain-empire-9780199826148","title":"Uncertain Empire","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorians have long understood that the notion of the cold war is richly metaphorical, if not paradoxical. The conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was a war that fell ambiguously short of war, an armed truce that produced considerable bloodshed. Yet scholars in the rapidly expanding field of Cold War studies have seldom paused to consider the conceptual and chronological foundations of the idea of the Cold War itself. This stands in contrast to the study of other historical epochs that are governed by grand but ambivalent rubrics: the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, or the Industrial Revolution. In Uncertain Empire, a group of leading scholars takes up the challenge of making sense of the idea of the Cold War and its application to the writing of American history. They interrogate the concept from a wide range of disciplinary vantage points; the scope of these different positions illustrates the diversity of methods and approaches in contemporary Cold War s\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA model for an edited volume. Joel Isaac and Duncan Bell, the volume's editors, aim not to criticize existing Cold War scholarship, but rather to open new avenues of inquiry and perhaps reinvigorate what is already a very large and rich field. That is because, while there is no shortage of writing on the topic, there is a surprising lack of attention to its meaning. * Gretchen Heefner, Reviews in American History *\u003cbr\u003eUncertain Empire is that rarity: a collection of essays that works as seamlessly and to as great effect as a single-authored work. From its comprehensive introduction through the incisive analyses by some of the most interesting historians of the Cold War, Isaac and Bell have assembled a rich and multi-faceted exploration of their subject. In their hands, the Cold War becomes a lens through which to examine American history itself. * Marilyn Young, New York University *\u003cbr\u003eThese are stimulating think pieces from a multidisciplinary perspective. * CHOICE *\u003cbr\u003eThought-provoking. An impressively wide-ranging and exceptionally coherent collection that simultaneously clarifies, problematizes, and advances our understanding of the United States and the Cold War. * Hugh Wilford, Journal of American History *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction, Joel Isaac and Duncan Bell ; Part I: Prisms ; 1. Cold War Degree Zero, Anders Stephanson ; 2. Exploring the Histories of the Cold War: A Pluralist Approach, Odd Arne Westad ; 3. A History Best Served Cold, Philip Mirowski ; 4. Inventing Other Realities: What the Cold War Means for Literary Studies, Steven Belletto ; Part II: Vistas ; 5. The Geopolitical Vision: The Myth of an Outmatched U.S.A., John Thompson ; 6. War Envy and Amnesia: American Cold War Rewrites of Russia's War, Ann Douglas ; 7. The Spirit of Democracy: Religious Liberty and American Anti-Communism during the Cold War, Andrew Preston ; 8. God, the Bomb, and the Cold War: The Religious and Ethical Debate Over Nuclear Weapons, 1945-1960,  Paul S. Boyer ; 9. Blues Under Siege: Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, and the Idea of America, Daniel Matlin ; 10. Cold War Culture and the Lingering Myth of Sacco and Vanzetti, Moshik Temkin ; 11. Deconstructing \"Cold War Anthropology\", Peter Mandler ; 12. Cognitive and Perceptual Training in the Cold War Man-Machine System, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi ; Index","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51767083204951,"sku":"9780199826148","price":39.89,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780199826148.jpg?v=1758712273","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/uncertain-empire-9780199826148","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}