Iron curtain
Subtitle: from stage to Cold War
By: Patrick Wright
Edition: [Paperback edition].
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng
Number of pages: 488
ISBN-13: 9780199239689
Subjects: Cold War; Cold War (1945-1989) fast (OCoLC)fst01754978; History
Description: 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. -- Publisher description.
Notes: Originally published: 2007.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Paths cross on the Jaroslaw Dabrowski; title: Bullet's big day; title: In the name of the common people; title: Prophecy and hindsight; title: First call; title: Dividing Europe's horizon; title: The Belgian variation; title: In defence of Otherness; title: First delegation; title: Not just a frontier; title: Relocating the Allied blockade; title: Fact-finding with limousines; title: The view from Locarno; title: Snapshots from a land of contrasts; title: Comrade Bukharin's version; title: No end to the Potemkin complex; title: Friends against famine; title: Steeled minds and the God that failed; title: Sliding back to Churchill; title: After the crossing; title: Gone with the Berlin Wall?