1st Edition
Remembering the Cold War Global Contest and National Stories
Remembering the Cold War examines how, more than two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cold War legacies continue to play crucial roles in defining national identities and shaping international relations around the globe. Given the Cold War’s blurred definition – it has neither a widely accepted commencement date nor unanimous conclusion - what is to be remembered? This book illustrates that there is, in fact, a huge body of ‘remembrance,’ and that it is more pertinent to ask: what should be included and what can be overlooked?
Over five sections, this richly illustrated volume considers case studies of Cold War remembering from different parts of the world, and engages with growing theorisation in the field of memory studies, specifically in relation to war. David Lowe and Tony Joel afford careful consideration to agencies that identify with being ‘victims’ of the Cold War. In addition, the concept of arenas of articulation, which envelops the myriad spaces in which the remembering, commemorating, memorialising, and even revising of Cold War history takes place, is given prominence.
Introduction. 1. Conceptualizing Cold War Remembrance 2. Nuclear World 3. Cities and Sites 4. Defining Our Times 5. Endings
Biography
David Lowe is Professor of History at the Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Deakin University. His research interests include the end of empires in Asia and the uses of history by politicians. He is the author/editor of seven books, including Australian Between Empires (2010) and Menzies and the Great World Struggle (1999).
Tony Joel is Lecturer in History at Deakin University. A former German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship holder, his research interests include war memory and commemoration. Publications include The Dresden Firebombing: Memory and the Politics of commemorating Destruction (2013).
'Lowe and Joel’s thematic approach to remembrance of the Cold War provides an important, and hitherto overlooked, lens upon the epoch defining contest: seemingly ubiquitous, the differing national experiences of the Cold War are expertly considered.'
Dr J. Simon Rofe, SOAS, University of London
'Scholarship on historical memory of twentieth century wars and the holocaust have been highly fashionable in the past decade. Remembering the Cold War opens up a vast new field of investigation into the historical memories of the Cold War. The introductory chapter introduces the general reader to the vast theoretical literature on memory studies in easily comprehensible form. The Cold War was a global event and this innovative study covers sites of memory from Vietnam to Australia, from Berlin, Prague and Budapest to California. Numerous pictures taken by the authors of Cold War lieux de memoire add a stunning visual history to this fine text, opening up a fertile new field of study. This book is a must read.'
Dr Günter Bischof, University of New Orleans, USA
'Remembering the Cold War is an accessible and innovative exploration of the ways that this extraordinary era in world politics is evoked and recast in our contemporary moment. The book is unique in its approach to the Cold War as an object of our common memories. It is a timely and welcome contribution to the general field of Memory Studies.'
Andrew Oppenheimer, formerly of Maastricht University, The Netherlands
