Enemy Number One: The United States of America in Soviet Ideology and Propaganda, 1945-1959

Enemy Number One tells the story of the Soviet cultural and propaganda apparatus and its efforts to control information about the United States in the postwar landscape. Beginning with the 1945 meeting of American and Soviet troops on the Elbe, this period saw cultural relations develop in close connection to oppression as the Soviet authorities attempted to contain and appropriate images of the United States. Rósa Magnúsdóttir analyzes two official narratives about the USSR's "enemy number one" --Stalin's anti-American campaign and Khrushchev's policy of peaceful coexistence--and shows how each relied on the legacy of the wartime alliance in their approach. Stalin used the wartime experience to spread fear of a renewed war, while Khrushchev used the wartime alliance as proof that the two superpowers could work together.Drawing from extensive archival resources, Magnúsdóttir brings to life the propaganda warriors and ideological chiefs of the early Cold War period in the Soviet Union, revealing their confusion and insecurities as they attempted to navigate the uncertain world of late Stalin and early Khrushchev cultural bureaucracy. She also demonstrates how concerned Soviet authorities were by their people's presumed interest in the United States, resorting to monitoring and even repression-behavior indicative of the inferiority complex of the Soviet project as it related to the outside world.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Translation Introduction Part I. Stalin's Script for Anti-Americanism 1. The Anti-American Campaign, 1945-1953 2. American Sources of Information and Soviet Interest in the Enemy 3. Soviet-American Cultural Encounters in Late Stalinism Part II. Khrushchev and the Discourse of Peaceful Coexistence 4. From Anti-Americanism to Peaceful Coexistence 5. The Paradoxes of Peaceful Coexistence, 1956-1957 6. The Possibilities of Peaceful Coexistence, 1958-1959 Epilogue Glossary Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Rósa Magnúsdóttir is Associate Professor of History at Aarhus University. She received her PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Review :
"Magnúsdóttir's book is well written and reads easily... it makes a very good supplement to existing studies of the cultural Cold War in the Soviet Union" -- Andrei Kozovoi, Université de Lille, SEER "This study is a rewarding read and every reader will gain greater insight into the ups and downs of Soviet propaganda." -- Martin McCauley, East-West Review "[an] impressive book ... Of particular merit are the places where Magnúsdóttir heroically endeavors to understand how the general Soviet populace consumed their leadership's propaganda. The research done to get at this question (which includes work in the archives of the Soviet Procuracy) is admirable indeed and offers a glimpse into a question that few historians have been able to answer." -- Margaret E. Peacock, H-Diplo "provides new and fascinating insights ... Magnúsdóttir has provided scholars with a better foundation to compare and contrast the experience of information experts in the United States and the Soviet Union, thus making Enemy Number One an essential read for any student of Cold War propaganda." -- Toby C. Rider, Russian Review "Enemy Number One is a valuable contribution to the historiography of the Cold War. It illuminates the two sides to propaganda which played out in the Soviet Union: the offensive...and the defensive...Magnúsdóttir paints a vivid picture of a different side to the Cold War than many study, but one which she demonstrates to have been just as critical to its prosecution" -- Simon Miles, Passport "Magnúsdóttir's book is an important contribution to the field of the history of the cultural Cold War and could be a good source for use in college courses on Soviet and Cold War history." -- Sergei I. Zhuk, Ball State University, American Historical Review "Magnúsdóttir's succinct, concise writing style and clarity of argument make this work a clear asset to any undergraduate course in Cold War or Soviet history. This work provides a much-needed alternative view of the cultural Cold War from within the Soviet political system, and is ideal for enhancing students' understandings of the ideological battle for hearts and minds." -- Matthew Brown, California State University, Long Beach, History Teacher