Containment Culture

American Narratives, Postmodernism, and the Atomic Age

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book Containment Culture by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease ISBN: 9780822381976
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: November 20, 1995
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
ISBN: 9780822381976
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: November 20, 1995
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Alan Nadel provides a unique analysis of the rise of American postmodernism by viewing it as a breakdown in Cold War cultural narratives of containment. These narratives, which embodied an American postwar foreign policy charged with checking the spread of Communism, also operated, Nadel argues, within a wide spectrum of cultural life in the United States to contain atomic secrets, sexual license, gender roles, nuclear energy, and artistic expression. Because these narratives were deployed in films, books, and magazines at a time when American culture was for the first time able to dominate global entertainment and capitalize on global production, containment became one of the most widely disseminated and highly privileged national narratives in history.
Examining a broad sweep of American culture, from the work of George Kennan to Playboy Magazine, from the movies of Doris Day and Walt Disney to those of Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock, from James Bond to Holden Caulfield, Nadel discloses the remarkable pervasiveness of the containment narrative. Drawing subtly on insights provided by contemporary theorists, including Baudrillard, Foucault, Jameson, Sedgwick, Certeau, and Hayden White, he situates the rhetoric of the Cold War within a gendered narrative powered by the unspoken potency of the atom. He then traces the breakdown of this discourse of containment through such events as the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, and ties its collapse to the onset of American postmodernism, typified by works such as Catch–22 and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.
An important work of cultural criticism, Containment Culture links atomic power with postmodernism and postwar politics, and shows how a multifarious national policy can become part of a nation’s cultural agenda and a source of meaning for its citizenry.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Alan Nadel provides a unique analysis of the rise of American postmodernism by viewing it as a breakdown in Cold War cultural narratives of containment. These narratives, which embodied an American postwar foreign policy charged with checking the spread of Communism, also operated, Nadel argues, within a wide spectrum of cultural life in the United States to contain atomic secrets, sexual license, gender roles, nuclear energy, and artistic expression. Because these narratives were deployed in films, books, and magazines at a time when American culture was for the first time able to dominate global entertainment and capitalize on global production, containment became one of the most widely disseminated and highly privileged national narratives in history.
Examining a broad sweep of American culture, from the work of George Kennan to Playboy Magazine, from the movies of Doris Day and Walt Disney to those of Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock, from James Bond to Holden Caulfield, Nadel discloses the remarkable pervasiveness of the containment narrative. Drawing subtly on insights provided by contemporary theorists, including Baudrillard, Foucault, Jameson, Sedgwick, Certeau, and Hayden White, he situates the rhetoric of the Cold War within a gendered narrative powered by the unspoken potency of the atom. He then traces the breakdown of this discourse of containment through such events as the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, and ties its collapse to the onset of American postmodernism, typified by works such as Catch–22 and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.
An important work of cultural criticism, Containment Culture links atomic power with postmodernism and postwar politics, and shows how a multifarious national policy can become part of a nation’s cultural agenda and a source of meaning for its citizenry.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book The Tatars of Crimea by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Red, White & Black by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Games of Property by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Musicians in Transit by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Street Archives and City Life by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book The Echo of Things by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Edges of Exposure by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Collective Situations by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Janus's Gaze by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Growing Explanations by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Photography on the Color Line by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Prostitution and the Ends of Empire by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book In the Shadows of the State by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
Cover of the book An Aqueous Territory by Alan Nadel, Donald E. Pease
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy