Mark A. Stoler, The Politics of the Second Front: American Military Planning and Diplomacy in Coalition Warfare, 1941–1943 (Westport, Conn., and London: Greenwood Press, 1977, $16.95). Pp xiii, 244. - Joseph M. Siracusa (ed.), The American Diplomatic Revolution: A Documentary History of the Cold War, 1941–1947 (Port Washington, New York, and London: Kennikat Press, 1977, cloth $12.95 paper, $7.95). Pp. vi, 266. - Joseph M. Siracusa and Glen St. John Barclay (eds.), The Impact of the Cold War: Reconsiderations (Port Washington, New York and London: Kennikat Press, 1977, cloth $12.50, paper $6.95). Pp. viii, 208.

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-415
Author(s):  
Henry B. Ryan
2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-204
Author(s):  
Lance Kenney

Louis Menand’s The Metaphysical Club, daunting in its choice of subject matter, closely aligns itself with the ancient sense of the word ‘history’ as a fluid, almost epic narrative. The Metaphysical Club of the title was a conversation group that met in Cambridge for a few months in 1872. Its membership roster listed some of the greatest intellectuals of the day: Charles Peirce, William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chauncey Wright, amongst others. There is no record of the Club’s discussions or debates—in fact, the only direct reference to the Club is made by Peirce in a letter written thirty-five years later. Menand utilizes the Club as a jumping-off point for a sweeping analysis of the beliefs of the day. The subtitle of the book belies its true mission: ‘a story of ideas in America.’ Menand discusses the intellectual and social conditions that helped shape these men by the time they were members of the Club. He then shows the philosophical, political, and cultural impact that these men went on to have. In doing so, Menand traces a history of ideas in the United States from immediately prior to the Civil War to the beginning of the Cold War.


2021 ◽  
pp. 600-616
Author(s):  
Árpád von Klimó

Central Europe is still imagined as an area dominated by Christianity, for the most part the Catholic Church, in close alliance with Christian rulers who minimized the impact of both the Protestant Reformation and minorities such as Judaism. This idea rests, however, on an oversimplified picture of the religious history of the region. Recent research has shown that the reality was more complex, and that historians still know very little about what the overwhelming majority of people believed or how they practised their religion. Christianity has never completely monopolized the religious landscape of Central Europe and has itself been constantly changing. The history of Christianization, Reformation, empires, and nationalism present in Central Europe as well as state socialism, the Cold War and today’s relative pluralism give an idea of this complexity.


Author(s):  
Patrice Ladwig

Lao Buddhism’s histories are deeply fragmented. Most Lao were deported to Siam in the nineteenth century, and after the demise of the French colonial regime, the country was drawn into the Second Indochina War. After two decades of brutal warfare and massive destructions, the Lao communist movement took power in 1975. This chapter examines the history of Lao Buddhism in the context of these events, and puts its main focus on the entanglement of religion and politics in the postcolonial phase, as the political polarization of the Lao sangha during the Cold War and the impact of the subsequent revolution remain crucial for understanding Buddhism’s position in the current Lao PDR. While under reformed socialism there has been a resurgence of Buddhism in the last two decades, the social and religious transformations resulting from rapid modernization through the capitalist economy and globalization bring new challenges for the Lao sangha.


2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUCE KUKLICK

George A. Reisch, How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science: To the Icy Slopes of Logic (Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005)Scott Soames, Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century. Vol. 1, The Dawn of Analysis; Vol. 2, The Age of Meaning (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2003)Although How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science is narrower in scope, the two books included in this review by and large cover the same ground—the history of anglophone philosophy in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Nonetheless, the two authors occupy two different universes, and it is instructive to examine the issues and styles of thought that separate their comprehension of analytic philosophy.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN KRIGE

ABSTRACT In July 1949, and again in January 1950 the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission shipped useful amounts of the short-lived isotope phosphorus-32 to a sanatorium in Trieste, Italy. They were used to treat a patient who had a particularly malignant kind of brain tumor. This distribution of isotopes abroad for medical and research purposes was hotly contested by Commissioner Lewis Strauss, and led to a bruising confrontation between him and J. Robert Oppenheimer. This paper describes the debates surrounding the foreign isotope program inside the Commission and in the U.S. Congress. In parallel, it presents an imagined, but factually-based story of the impact of isotope therapy on the patient and his doctor in Trieste, a city on the Italian-Yugoslavian border that was at the heart of the cold war struggle for influence between the U.S. and the USSR. It weaves together the history of science, institutional history, diplomatic history, and cultural history into a fable that draws attention to the importance of the peaceful atom for winning hearts and minds for the West. The polemics surrounding the distribution of isotopes to foreign countries may have irreversibly soured relationships between Oppenheimer and Strauss, and played into the scientist's loss of his security clearance. But, as those who supported the program argued, it was an important instrument for projecting a positive image of America among a scientifc elite abroad, and for consolidating its alliance with friendly nations in the early years of the cold war——or so the fable goes.


1978 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Donald W. Whisenhunt ◽  
Michael Vaughan Woodward ◽  
David E. Kyvig ◽  
Robert W. Sellen ◽  
Stephen John Kneeshaw ◽  
...  

Charles F. Delzell, ed. The Future of History. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press, 1977~ Pp. xi, 263. Cloth, $13.95. Review by Robert N. Seidel of Empire State College, Rochester Center. David E. Kyvig and Myron Marty. Your Family History: A Handbook for Research and Writing. Arlington Heights, Illinois: AHM, 1978. Pp . 71, plus Summary Data Sheets and a Generations Chart. Paper, $2.95. Review by Philip R. Rulon of Northern Arizona University. Maurice Meisner, Mao's China: A History of the People's Republic. New York: The Free Press, 1977. xiv, 416. Cloth, $17.95; Wang Gungwu. China and the World since 1949: The Impact of Independence, Modernity and Revolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977. Pp. vii, 190. Cloth, $16.95; Paper, $4.95. Review by Lee Feigon of Colby College. Peter N. Stearns. The Face of Europe. St. Louis: Forum Press, 1977. Pp. 305. Paper, $6.95. Review by W. Benjamin Kennedy of West Georgia College. Nicholas H. Steneck, Science and Creation in the Middle Ages. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1977. Pp. 381. Paper, $4.95. Review by Benjamin F. Taggie of Central Michigan University. Denis Mack Smith. Mussolini's Roman Empire. New York: Penguin, 1976. Pp. xi, 322. Paper, $3.95; George L. Mosse. The Nationalization of the Masses: Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich. New York: Meridian, 1975. Pp. xiv, 252. Paper, $4 . 95. Review by Clarence B. Davis of The College of Charleston. Walter Laqueur, ed. The Guerrilla Reader: A Historical Anthology. New York: Meridian, 1977. Pp. 246. Paper, $5.95; Anthony D. Smith, ed., Nationalist Movements. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976. Pp. vi, 185. Cloth, $15.95. Review by Leslie Clement Duly of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Harold Eugene David, John J. Finan, and F. Taylor Peck. Latin American Diplomatic History: An Introduction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977. Pp. viii, 301. Cloth, $15.00; paper $5.95. Review by John T. Reilly of Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh. Morton Borden and Otis L. Graham, Jr. Speculations on American History. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company, 1977. Pp. v, 200. Paper, $3.95. Review by Stephen John Kneeshaw of The School of the Ozarks. Thomas G. Paterson, J. Garry Clifford, and Kenneth J. Hagan. American Foreign Policy: A History. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company, 1977. Pp. xviii, 607. Cloth, $10.95. Review by Robert W. Sellen of Georgia State University. Vincent P. DeSantis. The Shaping of Modern America: 1877-1916. St. Louis: Forum Press, 1973. Pp. 259. Paper, $4.95; Michael H. Ebner and Eugene M. Tobin, eds. The Age of Urban Reform: New Perspectives on the Progressive Era. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1977. Pp. viii, 211. Cloth $12.95; paper, $7.95; Richard M. Abrams. The Burdens of Progress: 1900-1929. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1977. Pp. 199. Paper, $4.95. Review by David E. Kyvig of the University of Akron. Howard Roffman. Understanding the Cold War: A Study of the Cold War in the Interwar Period. Cranbury, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1977. Pp. 198. Cloth, $9.50; William Appleman Williams. American Confronts a Revolutionary World: 1776-1976. New York: William Morrow, 1976. Pp. 224. Cloth, $9.95. Review by Michael Vaughan Woodward of the University of Georgia. Laurence Ivan Seidman. Once in the Saddle: The Cowboy's Frontier, 1866-1896. New York: Mentor, 1977. Pp. 237. Paper, $1.75. Review by Donald W. Whisenhunt of Texas Eastern University.


2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Tures

The Middle East has witnessed a recent spate of alterations in rulers and regimes. These new leaders are coming to power in countries having a history of international conflict with other states in the region. Will the change in government exacerbate interstate crises, producing disputes and wars? Or will the nascent leadership steer their countries to peace, choosing instead to focus on an internal consolidation of power? To answer this question, this article examines the theories of foreign policy behavior of new leaders. It discusses the results of a quantitative analysis of an earlier time frame: the initial years of the Cold War. The article then conducts a series of case study analyses of contemporary times to determine if the theory and prior statistical tests remain valid. The results show that new administrations are more likely to target rivals with a threat, display, or limited use of force. Such incoming leaders, however, seem reluctant to drag their countries into a full-scale war. These findings hold for a variety of countries in a number of different contexts. Such results are relevant for Middle East scholars, conflict mediators, as well as American foreign policymakers who seem to have adopted a taste for regime change in the region.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document