From School Library Journal
YA-A book that covers the various influences on American culture during the years 1945 to 1990. Schwartz organizes Cold War culture alphabetically within the following broad categories: art, cartoons, consumer goods, dance, film, games and toys, television and theater. Each of these categories has a broad general article as well as specific individual entries. For example, there is a long article on television that includes news, documentaries, dramas, debate shows, situation comedies, and more. Readers can then go to smaller entries on specific shows such as "Laugh-In." Those unfamiliar with the period must use the lengthier articles to access other material as the index is not comprehensive. Nonetheless, this reference source is easy to read and hard to put down as a browsing item. It will be particularly helpful to social-studies teachers looking to bring the era to life and those researching the Cold War.
Linda A. Vretos, West Springfield High School, Springfield, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Booklist
The end of the cold war has been the occasion for renewed study of that phenomenon. Thus, many will welcome this treatment of the media and the arts from the author of
The Cold War Reference Guide: A General History and Annotated Chronology with Selected Biographies (McFarland, 1997). The work, according to its brief introduction, "discusses Cold War culture in the following broad categories: art, cartoons, consumer goods, dance, film, games and toys, language, literature, magazines, journalists, music, sports, television, and theatre" --each of which is treated in general articles of up to three pages in length. Other general articles include
nuclear apocalypse and
Red scare.
There are more than 1,500 alphabetically arranged entries for "works, personalities, movements and influences that constituted cold war culture from 1945^-1990." TV has entries ranging from Edward R. Murrow's See It Now to Saturday Night Live. Film is represented by entries such as Bridge over the River Kwai; DeMille, Cecil B.; and spy film spoofs. The narrative arts receive most attention. However, beat movement and black humor are present, as well as momism and new liberalism, to give some indication of the range. Although religion and Billy Graham receive some treatment, Fred Schwartz's Christian Anti-Communist Crusade does not warrant a separate entry, nor does John Henry Faulk, the blacklisted commentator. Some entries contain suggestions for further reading, which are fully cited in the bibliography that concludes the book.
Despite helpful cross-referencing, this work may frustrate some readers looking for a systematic study of the period. The volume's greatest value lies in its discussions of how specific aspects of American culture helped define and were defined by cold war attitudes. It would be useful as a supplemental source in public and undergraduate libraries.
--Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
