Patrick Wright

Iron Curtain (eBook, ePUB)

From Stage to Cold War

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. . .' With these words Winston Churchill famously warned the world in a now legendary speech given in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946. Launched as an evocative metaphor, the 'Iron Curtain' quickly became a brutal reality in the Cold War between Capitalist West and Communist East. Not surprisingly, for many years, people on both sides of the division have assumed that the story of the Iron Curtain began with Churchill's 1946 speech. In this fascinating investigation, Patrick Wright shows that this was decidedly not the case. Starting with its original use to describe an anti-fire device fitted into theatres, Iron Curtain tells the story of how the term evolved into such a powerful metaphor and the myriad ways in which it shaped the world for decades before the onset of the Cold War. Along the way, it offers fascinating perspectives on a rich array of historical characters and developments, from the lofty aspirations and disappointed fate of early twentieth century internationalists, through the topsy-turvy experiences of the first travellers to Soviet Russia, to the theatricalization of modern politics and international relations. And, as Wright poignantly suggests, the term captures a particular way of thinking about the world that long pre-dates the Cold War - and did not disappear with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. Oktober 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780191622847
• Artikelnr.: 38149266

Autorenporträt

Patrick Wright is a writer with an interest in the cultural dimensions of modern life. He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed best-selling history books, including The Village that Died for England (1995) and Tank: the Progress of a Monstrous War Machine (2000), described by Simon Schama as 'a tour de force.' He has written for many magazines and newspapers, including the London Review of Books, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Independent, and the Observer, and has made numerous documentaries on cultural themes for both BBC Radio 3 and 4. His television work includes The River, a four-part BBC2 series on the Thames. He is also a Professor at the Institute for Cultural Analysis at Nottingham Trent University, and a fellow of the London Consortium.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction: Paths Cross on the Jaroslaw Dabrowski
Part I: CARRYING ON IN MISSOURI
1: Bullet's big day
2: In the name of the common people
3: Prophecy and hindsight
Part II: FROM DRURY LANE TO THE THEATRE OF THE WEST (1914-1918)
4: First call
5: Dividing Europe's horizon
6: The Belgian variation
7: In defence of otherness
Part III: WRAPPING RED RUSSIA (1917-20)
8: First delegation
9: Not just a frontier
10: Relocating the Allied blockade
11: Fact-finding with limousines
Part IV: THE BROKEN INTERNATIONAL (1921-1927)
12: The view from Locarno
13: Snapshots from a land of contrasts
14: Comrade Bukharin's version
Part V: STALIN'S RING OF TRUST (1927-1939)
15: No end to the Potemkin complex
16: Friends against famine
17: Steeled minds and the God that failed
Part VI: SUCCESSION AND AFTERLIFE
18: Sliding back to Churchill
19: After the crossing
Afterword: Gone with the Berlin Wall?
Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: 'Bach's Christmas Music in England and in Germany', by Vernon Lee
Appendix 2: 'The Refreshment Room at Narva', by Charles Roden Buxton
Notes
Index