Paradoxes of Nostalgia

Penny M. Von Eschen is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of American Studies and Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War and Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957.

“In this analytically rigorous and impressively researched book Penny M. Von Eschen offers a profoundly original argument that the collapse of the Soviet Union reentrenched American elite faith in the necessity and goodness of US unipolar dominance of the world. By centering the rise and fall of the American unipolar project, Von Eschen presents a stunning synthetic history of the last thirty years that any scholar of the post--cold war period will have to confront. Paradoxes of Nostalgia is a magisterial accomplishment.” - Aziz Rana, author of (The Two Faces of American Freedom) “Penny M. Von Eschen offers a bold, new, and sweeping analysis of the end of the cold war and its aftermath. Pressing beyond the usual containers for cold war history, Von Eschen seamlessly interweaves stories of glasnost, perestroika, and structural adjustment with those of ascendant pro-gun, family-values, Christian right politics and the rise of mass incarceration, inequality, and climate change. Her pathbreaking book helps us to make sense of the tumultuous present.” - Megan Black, author of (The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power) "This intriguing study is about opportunities missed and wrong paths taken in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. . . . [A]n interesting, important book. For lovers of history and current events." (Starred Review) - David Keymer (Library Journal) "This is a complex, wide-ranging analysis of the relationship between nostalgia for the stability, economic security, and consensus of the Cold War and the triumphalism that led to a post-1989 rise in inequality, conflict, and authoritarianism in the US and abroad. . . . An excellent addition to university Cold War collections. Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty." (Choice) ". . . the methodological dexterity and the multiplicity of sources makes for a fascinating study of U.S. foreign policy set in a deep reading of its culture. Paradoxes of Nostalgia delivers a hard-hitting and important message which cuts to the centre of intellectual and cultural production." - David Ryan (Diplomatic History) “Paradoxes of Nostalgia reads as a guidebook for our present political conjuncture. In a rich, deeply researched book, Von Eschen develops a smart analysis of U.S. nostalgia for the Cold War.” - Alex Lubin (Society for U.S. Intellectual History) "Von Eschen’s insights are provocative and resonant. . . . Paradoxes of Nostalgia rightly reminds readers that the Cold War era was neither peaceful nor predictable for millions of people. . . ." - Susan L. Carruthers (Journal of American History)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction  11. The Ends of History  212. Out of Order: Discordant Triumphalism and the “Clash of Civilizations”  563. Losing the Good Life: Post-Cold War Malaise and the Enemy Within  924. “God I Miss the Cold War”: Busted Containers and Popular Nostalgia, 1993–1999  1315. Consuming Nostalgia: Lampooning Lenin, Marketing Mao, and the Global Turn to the Right  1746. Patriot Acts: Staging the War on Terror from Spy Museum to Bishkek  2187. Spies R Us: Paradoxes of US-Russian Relations  259Epilogue. Nostalgia for the Future  298Notes  309Works Cited  353Index  365