The United States in the Cold War Era

Examines the history of the Cold War era (1947-1991), with a focus on the impacts of that conflict on American social and political life. Topics under consideration include: the United States as a global actor and the repercussions of decolonization in a Cold War context; the formation of the military-industrial-academic complex and its role in the development of computing and other technologies; disaster planning, civil defense, and apocalyptic imaginaries that arose in response to the threat of nuclear warfare; McCarthyism, propaganda, and political repression; the emergence of of student, environmental, civil rights, and anti-nuclear protest movements; and the legacies of the Cold War at home and abroad.