Homeward Bound (Revised Edition): American Families In The Cold War
Era

Product Description

When Homeward Bound first appeared in 1988 it forever changed the way we understand Cold War America Previously scholars understood the post-World War II era as a time when Americans turned away from politics to enjoy the fruits of peace & prosperity after decades of depression & war while their leaders remained preoccupied with the Soviet threat & the dangers of the Atomic Age Homeward Bound challenged the idea of an apolitical private arena demonstrating that the Atomic Age & the Cold War were not merely the concerns of experts & policy makers but infused American life on every level from the boardroom to the bedroom As Elaine Tyler May argues the official foreign policy of "containment" toward the Soviet Union had a domestic corollary in which the perceived dangers of the age--nuclear war communist subversion consumer excess sexual experimentation & women's emancipation--were "contained" within the family an institution now expected to fulfill its members hopes & dreams for security & the good life in the midst of a frightening world " Domestic containment" is now the standard interpretation of the era & Homeward Bound has become a classic This new edition

Includes:: an updated introduction & a new epilogue examining the legacy of Cold War obsessions with personal & family security in the present day