All-star comedy about an ageing rock star and his search for fulfilment, written by Nick Hornby and Giles SmithDave Mabbutt is having a crisis. He’s the richest man in Britain, a bona fide rockstar with fans, fame and fortune. He even has a personal assistant called Mr. Tumble, who is in fact an elephant - but he’s not happy. When you have more money than sense life can have hilarious consequences. And how rock and roll does it really feel to have your mum at every...

‘A lovely book – as bright, shiny and uplifting as an Abba hit’ Daily Mail‘[A] witty and affectionate account . . . It’s not a stretch to say that, at its core, My My! is a book about time, death and the possibility of immortality’ Sunday TimesMy My! The story of ABBA told through a selection of their greatest hits.This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Waterloo...

Interdoc was established in 1963 by Western intelligence services as a multinational effort to coordinate an anti-communist offensive. Drawing on exclusive sources and the memories of its participants, this book charts Interdoc's campaign, the people and ideas that lay behind it and the rise and fall of this remarkable network during the Cold War.

This book analyses a key episode in the cultural Cold War - the formation of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Whilst the Congress was established to defend cultural values and freedom of expression in the Cold War Struggle, its close association with the CIA later undermined its claims to intellectual independence or non-political autonomy.By examining the formation of the Congress and its early years of existence in relation to broader issues of US-European relations, Giles Scott...

This accessible textbook uses key documents embedded in a clear narrative to chart the post-Cold War rise and decline of transatlantic relations. It provides a novel interpretive framework by proposing that the three decades between 1989 and 2020 represent a distinct ‘transatlantic era’.Providing a unique new look at the recent history and politics of transatlantic relations, the book argues that three key phases can be identified:1989–1999: victory?

The idea of the Cold War as a propaganda contest as opposed to a military conflict is being increasingly accepted. This has led to a re-evaluation of the relationship between economic policies, political agendas and cultural activities in Western Europe post 1945. This book provides an important cross-section of case studies that highlight the connections between overt/covert activities and cultural/political agendas during the early Cold War. It therefore provides a valuable bridge betwee...

In the decades following the USSR’s collapse, the United States has shifted from unrivalled hegemon to a position of relative decline. Although America appeared dominant after 1991, its culture—like its diplomatic, military, and economic power—faced little competition. Such favourable conditions reduced the perceived need for cultural diplomacy; the government saw little reason to promote a cultural product that seemed to sell itself. After 9/11, however, it became clear that global attitu...

This book repositions the groundbreaking Bretton Woods conference of July 1944 as the first large-scale multilateral North-South dialogue on global financial governance. It moves beyond the usual focus on Anglo-American interests by highlighting the influence of delegations from Latin America, India, the Soviet Union, France, and others. It also investigates how state and private interests intermingled, collided, and compromised during the negotiations on the way to a set of regulations an...

How was anti-communism organised in the West? This book covers the agents, aims, and arguments of various transnational anti-communist activists during the Cold War. Existing narratives often place the United States – and especially the CIA – at the centre of anti-communist activity. The book instead opens up new fields of research transnationally.

Exchanges between different cultures and institutions of learning have taken place for centuries, but it was only in the twentieth century that such efforts evolved into formal programs that received focused attention from nation-states, empires and international organizations. Global Exchanges provides a wide-ranging overview of this underresearched topic, examining the scope, scale and evolution of organized exchanges around the globe through the twentieth century. In doing so i...

This book explores the lasting legacy of the controversial project by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, funded by the CIA, to promote Western culture and liberal values in the battle of ideas with global Communism during the Cold War. One of the most important elements of this campaign was a series of journals published around the world: Encounter, Preuves, Quest, Mundo Nuevo, and many others, involving many of the most famous intellectuals to promote a global intellectual commun...

Atlantic, Euratlantic or Europe-America? What did the Atlantic Community mean for the nations of North America and Western Europe during the 1960s and early 1970s? This book, spanning the period from presidents Kennedy to Nixon, offers a wide-ranging set of views on this topic. National perspectives from the main protagonists—the United States, Britain, France, and West Germany— are complemented by studies on...