Deschutes Public Library

The war of nerves, inside the Cold War mind, Martin Sixsmith

eng

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The war of nerves

1281582426

Martin Sixsmith

inside the Cold War mind

"More than any other conflict, the Cold War was fought on the battlefield of the human mind. And, nearly thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its legacy still endures-not only in our politics, but in our own thoughts and fears. Drawing on a vast array of untapped archives and unseen sources, Martin Sixsmith vividly recreates the tensions and paranoia of the Cold War, framing it for the first time from a psychological perspective. Revisiting towering, unique personalities like Kruschev, Kennedy, and Nixon, as well as the lives of the unknown millions who were caught up in the conflict, this is a gripping narrative of the paranoia of the Cold War -- and in today's uncertain times, this story is more resonant that ever." -- Front jacket flap

Individual or collective: two national psyches -- Two nations; two missions -- Kissing Stalin's bum -- Yalta and the psychology of betrayal -- Potsdam and paranoia -- Stalin the neurotic -- The long telegrams -- Threats and mind readers -- War by inadvertence -- Trouble among socialist friends -- Stalin's ghost: memory, fear, and the monster from the grave -- A psychological vacuum -- The secret speech and the psychology of the crowd -- Psychological warfare -- McCarthyism and witch-hunts -- Brainwashing -- Sputnik and the psychology of fear -- The kitchen: competing utopias -- Bricks in the wall -- The space race -- Brinkmanship -- Duck and cover -- Disinformation -- Double agents, double dealing, doublethink -- Inventing the enemy in books and film -- Art, posters, and jokes -- Music -- Religion -- Falling dominoes -- They took away your mind: control through silence -- The psychology of the front line -- The madman and détente -- Reagan's epiphany -- The wall torn down -- The evil empire is no more -- The misuses of memory

Inside the Cold War mind