In this Book
- Confronting America: The Cold War between the United States and the Communists in France and Italy
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: The New Cold War History
summary
Throughout the Cold War, the United States encountered unexpected challenges from Italy and France, two countries with the strongest, and determinedly most anti-American, Communist Parties in Western Europe. Based primarily on new evidence from communist archives in France and Italy, as well as research archives in the United States, Alessandro Brogi's original study reveals how the United States was forced by political opposition within these two core Western countries to reassess its own anticommunist strategies, its image, and the general meaning of American liberal capitalist culture and ideology.
Brogi shows that the resistance to Americanization was a critical test for the French and Italian communists' own legitimacy and existence. Their anti-Americanism was mostly dogmatic and driven by the Soviet Union, but it was also, at crucial times, subtle and ambivalent, nurturing fascination with the American culture of dissent. The staunchly anticommunist United States, Brogi argues, found a successful balance to fighting the communist threat in France and Italy by employing diplomacy and fostering instances of mild dissent in both countries. Ultimately, both the French and Italian communists failed to adapt to the forces of modernization that stemmed both from indigenous factors and from American influence. Confronting America illuminates the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural conflicts behind the U.S.-communist confrontation.
Brogi shows that the resistance to Americanization was a critical test for the French and Italian communists' own legitimacy and existence. Their anti-Americanism was mostly dogmatic and driven by the Soviet Union, but it was also, at crucial times, subtle and ambivalent, nurturing fascination with the American culture of dissent. The staunchly anticommunist United States, Brogi argues, found a successful balance to fighting the communist threat in France and Italy by employing diplomacy and fostering instances of mild dissent in both countries. Ultimately, both the French and Italian communists failed to adapt to the forces of modernization that stemmed both from indigenous factors and from American influence. Confronting America illuminates the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural conflicts behind the U.S.-communist confrontation.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Cover and Front Matter
- pp. 1-5
- Contents and Illustrations
- pp. 6-7
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-ix
- Abbreviations
- pp. x-xii
- INTRODUCTION
- pp. 1-12
- EPILOGUE: Cultural and Political Decline
- pp. 347-381
- CONCLUSION
- pp. 382-397
- Bibliography
- pp. 473-507
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469602950
Related ISBN(s)
9780807834732, 9780807877746, 9781469622118
MARC Record
OCLC
762324820
Pages
552
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No