History

The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War

The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-04-19 02:31:18
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Louis Menand
  • ISBN：0374158452
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

J Earl ，

The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War from Louis Menand is a sweeping survey that looks at how and why perceptions about the United States， both domestically and internationally， changed so completely during these years。First， as he makes clear in his Preface， this is neither a history of the Cold War nor is it about Cold War culture specifically。 It is about "art and thought" during this period and how it helped to mold new ways of thinking and being。 The Cold War was， as Menand says， The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War from Louis Menand is a sweeping survey that looks at how and why perceptions about the United States， both domestically and internationally， changed so completely during these years。First， as he makes clear in his Preface， this is neither a history of the Cold War nor is it about Cold War culture specifically。 It is about "art and thought" during this period and how it helped to mold new ways of thinking and being。 The Cold War was， as Menand says， just one of many factors。 So don't expect specifically a history of or explicit connections to the Cold War for every person or movement mentioned。 The connections are there throughout and a perceptive reader will see them， but since the tensions between the "East and West" weren't the only， or even always the primary， factor it isn't overly emphasized。Also， if you're worried about the length of the book， don't be。 First of all， by the Kindle measurement， the body of the text ends at 73%， so barely over 700 pages make up the body of the book。 While all of the notes are useful if you want to read further， very few include additional commentary （there are actually some footnotes in the text for those types of notes） so the pages with the notes do not add to the amount of reading。 In addition， each chapter is centered on a particular movement and/or group of people， so each can be read almost like a self-contained essay。 This makes the book one that allows a reader to read chapters at their leisure and return to the book later without losing too much of the flow。 That said， it richly rewards reading over a few days so you can better appreciate the big picture。Finally， and this is important， Menand doesn't treat the period as if in a vacuum。 He discusses what came before and how it helped shape what happened during this period。 Sometimes as a logical continuation， sometimes as a response to， but never as something created from nothing。 If you expected a book to discuss a period of history， especially when focusing on art and thought， without delving into what came before， you haven't read many meaningful history books， at least not very well。Because the sweep is so broad， there will be some areas where Menand uses less than nuanced interpretations when making his point。 Not so much wrong or mistaken， but things that don't take everything into account。 I didn't find these to be particularly problematic， a person can only go in depth so far on this many topics， at some point he has to rely on previous work。 I only noticed this in a couple chapters where I have done more research and reading， and I think that will be the case with other readers for whom some of these movements represent part of their personal scholarly past。 It does not， however， detract from the larger arc of the book and doesn't make a reader feel that something has been misrepresented。I highly recommend this for readers who enjoy intellectual history， literary history， and art history。 Art in this case is using the broad definition， music， painting， etc。 I think a casual reader would enjoy reading this book essentially as a collection of connected essays。Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley。 。。。more

Bagus ，

I could forgive the length of this book which is almost 944 pages for the rich contents inside it。 Written by the Pulitzer Prize winner Louis Menand， this book offers an interesting point of view to the Cold War period beyond the spectrum of the political sphere。 It focuses on two subjects which influence human’s lives， art and thought。 It begins with a brief description of the origin of the Cold War， which could be traced by a recommendation sent by George Kennan who was a US diplomat in the So I could forgive the length of this book which is almost 944 pages for the rich contents inside it。 Written by the Pulitzer Prize winner Louis Menand， this book offers an interesting point of view to the Cold War period beyond the spectrum of the political sphere。 It focuses on two subjects which influence human’s lives， art and thought。 It begins with a brief description of the origin of the Cold War， which could be traced by a recommendation sent by George Kennan who was a US diplomat in the Soviet Union and the person who first advocated a policy of containment of Soviet expansion soon after the end of World War II。 His writings inspired Truman Doctrine and US foreign policy of containing the Soviet Union。However， many of the ideas in this book， both for art and thought originated even far before the Cold War。 Some of them could be traced into European artistic influence （Paris as the world art capital in the 1920s） and the aftereffect of World War II （existentialism which gives the individual the power to change their own situations and gain freedom）。 Hence， I am in the opinion that this book is more about the styles of art and the thoughts that influence much of our lives in the 20th century rather than focusing solely on the Cold War since even the explanation of Cold War phenomenon only appeared in several chapters。 It highlights several artistic movements， literary movements， and philosophical ideas in many parts of the world with really nice bridging from one idea to another。Besides the abnormal length， another problem that I have regarding this book is mainly about its tendency to focus on art and thought movements only in Western bloc during the Cold War。 It doesn’t describe well some literary movements that are in place in the Eastern bloc such as Socialist Realism （in the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe， mainly championed by Andrei Zhdanov and György Lukács）， Epic Theatre （practised by Bertolt Brecht and his theatre company Berliner Ensemble in East Germany）， dissident writers and artists in the Eastern bloc （I had some expectation like this book describes Václav Havel's role in overthrowing communism in Czechoslovakia）， or even the curious case of Boris Pasternak who won controversial Nobel Prize of Literature in 1958 （this book at least mentioned the story of Anna Akhmatova’s brief relationship with Sir Isaiah Berlin， but it’s mainly told to highlight Berlin’s achievements）。 Nevertheless， this book is indeed interesting new research on the Cold War period。 I like the way it provides me with rich intertextuality of ideas， which help me to expand my vocabularies of modern art and thoughts as well as providing me with further book recommendations to be read。 Louis Menand writes articulately without making the readers confused about terminologies or historical facts。 Each chapter of this book could be read independently。 For example， readers who are interested with Sartre’s idea on existentialism could turn to Chapter 3 - Freedom and Nothingness， those who are interested with analysis on Kerouac’s On the Road and Beat generation could check Chapter 4 - Outside the Law， and those who are interested with John Cage’s musical invention which was based on the twelve-tone system could turn to Chapter 8 - The Emancipation of Dissonance。This book will be intriguing for people with interest in modern art， modern thoughts， politics， and even the reasoning for the rise of consumerism in the 1960s。 Many of the ideas in this book are simply derivative from other books published in the past。 However， the way the author could connect those ideas with geopolitical issues of the Cold War is a merit in itself which expand further the discussion that we could have regarding the Cold War beyond the political sphere。 ===I received the Advance Reader Copy from Farrar， Straus and Giroux through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more