Living with Nkrumahism
Nation, State, and Pan-Africanism in Ghana
By Jeffrey S. Ahlman
In the 1950s, Ghana, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party, drew the world’s attention as anticolonial activists, intellectuals, and politicians looked to it as a model for Africa’s postcolonial future. Nkrumah was a visionary, a statesman, and one of the key makers of contemporary Africa. In Living with Nkrumahism, Jeffrey S. Ahlman reexamines the infrastructure that organized and consolidated Nkrumah’s philosophy into a political program.Ahlman
African History · Nationalism · Colonialism and Decolonization · African Studies · Cold War · Ghana
From Disarmament to Rearmament
The Reversal of US Policy toward West Germany, 1946–1955
By Sheldon A. Goldberg
·
Foreword by Ingo Trauschweizer
At the end of World War II, the Allies were unanimous in their determination to disarm the former aggressor Germany. As the Cold War intensified, however, the decision whether to reverse that policy and to rearm West Germany led to disagreements both within the US government and among members of the nascent NATO alliance.
Military History · European History · American History · History | Modern | 20th Century · Germany · Cold War
With vision, hard-nosed judgment, and biting humor, Julius Nyerere confronted the challenges of nation building in modern Africa. Constructing Tanzania out of a controversial Cold War union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar, Nyerere emerged as one of independent Africa’s most influential leaders. He pursued his own brand of African socialism, called Ujamaa, with unquestioned integrity, and saw it profoundly influence movements to end white minority rule in Southern Africa.
Biography, Heads of State · African History · Colonialism and Decolonization · African Studies · Cold War · Tanzania · Eastern Africa
Thabo Mbeki
By Adekeye Adebajo
In this concise biography, ideally suited for the classroom, Adekeye Adebajo seeks to illuminate former South African president Thabo Mbeki’s contradictions and situate him in a pan-African pantheon.
Biography, Heads of State · African History · Colonialism and Decolonization · Cold War · South Africa
Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946–1958
By Elizabeth Schmidt
In September 1958, Guinea claimed its independence, rejecting a constitution that would have relegated it to junior partnership in the French Community. In all the French empire, Guinea was the only territory to vote “No.” Orchestrating the “No” vote was the Guinean branch of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), an alliance of political parties with affiliates in French West and Equatorial Africa and the United Nations trusts of Togo and Cameroon.
African History · Colonialism and Decolonization · Nationalism · History | Modern | 20th Century · Cold War · African Studies · Guinea
From Submarines to Suburbs
Selling a Better America, 1939–1959
By Cynthia Lee Henthorn
During World War II, U.S. businesses devised marketing strategies that encouraged consumers to believe their country’s wartime experience would launch a better America. Advertisements and promotional articles celebrated the immense industrial output that corporations achieved during the war.
History · American History · United States · North America · Americas · World War II · History | Modern | 20th Century · Cold War · Popular Culture
Flash Effect
Science and the Rhetorical Origins of Cold War America
By David J. Tietge
The ways science and technology are portrayed in advertising, in the news, in our politics, and in the culture at large inform the way we respond to these particular facts of life. The better we are at recognizing the rhetorical intentions of the purveyors of information and promoters of mass culture, the more adept we become at responding intelligently to them.Flash
American History · Sociology · History · Cold War · History | Modern | 20th Century · United States · North America · Americas · History of Science
Hands Across the Sea?
U.S.-Japan Relations, 1961–1981
By Timothy P. Maga
In 1961, the U.S. economy and military remained unassailable in the eyes of the world. Within twenty years, America faced defeat in Vietnam and its economy had been shaken. Japan was now considered the great economic superpower, while the U.S. and Japan reversed roles as surplus and debtor nations. Hands across the Sea? examines this reversal of roles, determining how and why America and Japan became the post-World War II era’s most argumentative allies.Through
Political Science · History | United States | 20th Century · World and Comparative History · United States · Japan · Asian Studies · Cold War
