American Militarism and Anti-Militarism in Popular Media, 1945-1970

Download or read book American Militarism and Anti-Militarism in Popular Media, 1945-1970 written by Lisa M. Mundey and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-01-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars have characterized the early decades of the Cold War as an era of rising militarism in the United States but most Americans continued to identify themselves as fundamentally anti-militaristic. To them, "militaristic" defined the authoritarian regimes of Germany and Japan that the nation had defeated in World War II--aggressive, power-hungry countries in which the military possessed power outside civilian authority. Much of the popular culture in the decades following World War II reflected and reinforced a more pacifist perception of America. This study explores military images in television, film, and comic books from 1945 to 1970 to understand how popular culture made it possible for a public to embrace more militaristic national security policies yet continue to perceive themselves as deeply anti-militaristic.