Research Catalog

Title

After Sputnik : America, the world, and Cold War conflicts / Alan J. Levine.

Author

Levine, Alan J.

Publication

• New York, NY : Routledge, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

215 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"On October 4, 1957, in the midst of the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite. For the West, and especially the United States, it was a shattering blow to national morale and pride. It led to a deep-seated fear that the Soviet Union would surpass the United States in both technology and power and that even nuclear war might be near. After Sputnik shows that the late 1950s were not an era of complacency and smugness, but were some of the most anxious years in American history. The Cold War was by no means a time of peace. It was an era of a different kind of battle--one that took place in negotiations and in the internal affairs of many countries, but not always on the battlefield. While many choose to remember President Eisenhower as a near-pacifist, his actions in Lebanon, the Taiwan Straits Crisis, Berlin, and elsewhere proved otherwise. Seconded by his able Secretary of State, he steered America though some of the most difficult parts of the Cold War, not always succeeding, but preventing disaster. The Middle East and Berlin crises, the Indonesian Civil War, Fidel Castro's rise to power, and other events are all bluntly discussed in the light of Western, and other, illusions and delusions. In this engaging history, Levine delves deeply into this often misrepresented period of history, and provides new insight into one of the most formative decades in American history"--Provided by publisher.

Subjects

• Soviet Union
• United States
• Space race
• Cold War > Diplomatic history
• Diplomacy
• Soviet Union > Foreign relations > United States
• Diplomatic relations
• Sputnik satellites > Political aspects > History
• 1953-1965
• Space race > History
• United States > Foreign relations > Soviet Union
• Eisenhower, Dwight D (Dwight David), 1890-1969 > Political and social views
• Command of troops
• United States > Military policy
• History
• Cold War (1945-1989)
• Eisenhower, Dwight D (Dwight David), 1890-1969 > Military leadership
• United States > Foreign relations > 1953-1961
• Political and social views
• World politics > 1955-1965
• Military policy

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Eisenhower's paradise? : America in the late 1950s -- Cold War policy and military strategy to 1958 -- The enemy : Khrushchev's USSR -- The Sputnik shock -- "Missile gap" and space race -- The Muddled East : the Middle East crisis and the Lebanon landing -- Battle in the Taiwan Strait : the second "Quemoy-Matsu Crisis" -- Berlin Crisis -- The last domino : American intervention in the Indonesian Civil War -- The rise of the maximum leader : the Cuban Revolution, Castro and Latin America.

Call Number

JFE 18-8965

ISBN

• 9781412865128
• 1412865123
• 9781412865487
• 1412865484

LCCN

• 2016051467
• 40027852332

OCLC

965734892

Author

Levine, Alan J., author.

Title

After Sputnik : America, the world, and Cold War conflicts / Alan J. Levine.

Publisher

New York, NY : Routledge, 2018.

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1953-1965

Other Form:

Online version: Levine, Alan J. After Sputnik. New Brunswick, New Jersey : Transaction Publishers, 2017 9781412864626 (DLC) 2017018896

Other Standard Identifier

40027852332

Research Call Number

JFE 18-8965