This is an introduction for academics, students, and poltical analysts to some of the latest trends in the study and state of culture and international history: modernity, NGOs, internationalism, cultural violence, the 'Romance of Resistance', and the culture of diplomacy.

How the French have used American culture to define a unique modern identity There are over 1,000 McDonald's on French soil. Two Disney theme parks have opened near Paris in the last two decades. And American-inspired vocabulary such as "le weekend" has been absorbed into the French language. But as former French president Jacques Chirac put it: "The U.S. finds France unbearably pretentious. And we find the U.S. unbearably hegemonic." Are the French fascinated or threatened by America? They Americanize yet are notorious for expressions of anti-Americanism. From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to free markets and foreign policy, this book looks closely at the conflicts and contradictions of France's relationship to American politics and culture. Richard Kuisel shows how the French have used America as both yardstick and foil to measure their own distinct national identity. They ask: how can we be modern like the Americans without becoming like them? France has charted its own path: it has welcomed America's products but rejected American policies; assailed America's "jungle capitalism" while liberalizing its own economy; attacked "Reaganomics'" while defending French social security; and protected French cinema, television, food, and language even while ingesting American pop culture. Kuisel examines France's role as an independent ally of the United States—in the reunification of Germany and in military involvement in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia—but he also considers the country's failures in influencing the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. Whether investigating France's successful information technology sector or its spurning of American expertise during the AIDS epidemic, Kuisel asks if this insistence on a French way represents a growing distance between Europe and the United States or a reaction to American globalization. Exploring cultural trends, values, public opinion, and political reality, The French Way delves into the complex relationship between two modern nations.

After Hitler seeks to explain the breathtaking transformation of the Germans from the defeated National Socialist accomplices and Holocaust perpetrators of 1945 to the civilized, democratic, and prosperous people of today, living in a reunited country that plays a leading role in the integration of Europe.

Punk Rock examines the history of punk rock in its totality. Punk became a way of thinking about the role of culture and community in modern life. Punks forged real alternatives to producing popular music and built community around their music. This punk counterpublic, forged in the late Cold War period, spanned the globe and has provided a viable cultural alternative to alienated young people over the years. This book starts with the rise of modernity and places the emergence of punk as a musical subculture into that longer historical narrative. It also reveals how punk itself became a contested terrain, as participants sought to imbue the production of music with greater meaning. It highlights all styles of punk and its wide variety of creators around the world, including from the LGBTQ+, feminist, and alternative communities. Punk was and remains a transnational phenomenon that influences music production and shapes our understanding of culture’s role in community building.

Observing European debates about EuroDisney, McDonald's, Hollywood films and television programs, and other vehicles of alleged 'Americanization,' one might imagine that Europe was in serious risk of losing its distinct cultural identity in the melting pot of American pop culture. The loaded charge of 'kitsch' is a central aspect of the debate, with Disney stories, for example, branded as simplified travesties of authentic European folk tales. But the relationship between European and American popular cultures is vastly more complex. Reciprocal and interactive, it is a relationship in which the European-American partnership (for example, in cinematic ventures) has become quite common. And again, artifacts which have a certain meaning and reception in America may have a completely different meaning and reception in Europe; in effect behaving as different artifacts altogether. And finally, as this book shows, American cultural influences have penetrated not only the popular realms of European television, fashions, fast food, and rock music, but also such domains as youth organizations, literature, UFO culture, and religious faith.

The Cold War is often viewed in absolutist terminology: the United States and the Soviet Union characterized one another in oppositional rhetoric and pejorative propaganda. State-sanctioned communications stressed the inherent dissimilarity between their own citizens and those of their Cold War foe. Such rhetoric exacerbated geopolitical tensions and heightened Cold War paranoia, most notably during the Red Scare and brinkmanship incidents. Government leaders stressed the reactive defensive foreign policies they implemented to retaliate against their counterparts’ offensive maneuvers. Only brief periods of détente gave glimpses into the possibility of concerted peaceful coexistence. Yet such characterizations neglect the complexities and rhetorical nuances that created fissures throughout the long-standing ideological conflict. Grassroots diplomacy rarely coalesced with official governmental rhetoric and often contradicted the discourse emanating from the White House and the Kremlin. Organizations such as Women Strike for Peace (WSP), the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), and the Moscow Trust Group (MTG) defied policy directives and sought to establish genuine peaceful coexistence. Traveling citizens posited that U.S. and Soviet citizens possessed more underlying commonalities than their governmental leaders cared to admit – phenomena underscored in events such as the San-Francisco-to-Moscow Walk for Peace. Spacebridge programs railed against the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and proclaimed that figurative and literal links between their country and the “Other” proved more conducive to public opinion than “Star Wars.” Iron Curtain Twitchers examines such juxtaposing rhetorics through three lexical themes: contamination, containment, and coexistence. It analyzes the disparate perspectives of public politicians and private citizens throughout the Cold War’s duration and its aftermath to better understand the political, cultural, and geopolitical nuances of U.S.-Russia relations. Vacillating rhetoric among politicians, journalists, and traveling citizens complicated geopolitical relationships, sociopolitical disagreements, and cultural characterizations. These dialogues are contrasted with the cultural mediums of film and political cartoons to underscore fluctuating Cold War identity dynamics. Manifestations of one’s own country contrasted with propagations of the “Other” and indicate that the Cold War lasted much longer and remains more virulent than previously conceived.

Elvis Presley stands tall as perhaps the supreme icon of 20th-century U.S. culture. But he was perceived to be deeply un-American in his early years as his controversial adaptation of rhythm and blues music and gyrating on-stage performances sent shockwaves through Eisenhower's conservative America and far beyond. This book explores Elvis Presley's global transformation from a teenage rebel figure into one of the U.S.'s major pop-cultural embodiments from a historical perspective. It shows how Elvis's rise was part of an emerging transnational youth culture whose political impact was heavily conditioned by the Cold War. As well as this, the book analyses Elvis's stint as G.I. soldier in West Germany, where he acted as an informal ambassador for the so-called American way of life and was turned into a deeply patriotic figure almost overnight. Yet, it also suggests that Elvis's increasingly synonymous identity with U.S. culture ultimately proved to be a double-edged sword, as the excesses of his superstardom and personal decline seemingly vindicated long-held stereotypes about the allegedly materialistic nature of U.S. society. Tracing Elvis's story from his unlikely rise in the 1950s right up to his tragic death in August 1977, this book offers a riveting account of changing U.S. identities during the Cold War, shedding fresh light on the powerful role of popular music and consumerism in shaping images of the United States during the cultural struggle between East and West.

Using Germany as a case study of the impact of American culture throughout a period characterized by a totalitarian system, two destructive wars, ethnic cleansing, and economic disaster, this book explores the political and cultural parameters of Americanization and anti-Americanism.

The traditionally American genre of the road movie has been explored and reconfigured in the French context since the later 1960s. Comparative in its approach, this book studies the inter-relationship between American and French culture and cinemas, and in the process considers and challenges histories of the road movie. It combines film history with film theory methodologies, analysing transformations in social, political and film-industrial contexts alongside changing perspectives on the meaning and possibilities of film. At once chronological and thematic in structure, The French Road Movie provides in each chapter a comprehensive introduction to key themes emerging from the genre in the French context - liberty, identity and citizenship, masculinity, femininity, border-crossing - followed by detailed, innovative and often revisionist readings of the chosen films. Through these readings the author justifies the place of the road genre within French cinema histories and reinvigorates this often neglected and misunderstood area of study.

This volume includes historiographical surveys of American foreign relations since 1941 by some of the country's leading historians. Some of the essays offer sweeping overviews of the major trends in the field of foreign/international relations history. Others survey the literature on US relations with particular regions of the world or on the foreign policies of presidential administrations. The result is a comprehensive assessment of the historical literature on US foreign policy that highlights recent developments in the field.