Seminar Der Kalte Krieg The Cold War 1945-1990

The Cold War is one of the central phenomena of the 20th century, shaping global power configurations as well as the domestic policies of many nations for more than fifty years. This seminar will provide an introduction to this fascinating era, focusing on working with primary sources. After dealing with major aspects of the Cold War and discussing the development and changes in cold war historiography, we will be working with two major online databases, the Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) and the Digital National Security Archive, both of which contain a treasure of US Cold War documents. Presentations and term papers will be built around the interpretation of selected bodies of source material from these archives dealing with key events, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis or the role and thought of individuals such as historian and Kennedy advisor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Please check your “Modulhandbuch” for the exact module requirements in your graduate program. In preparation for the seminar you are obliged to purchase and read: Robert McMahon , The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), which is available for ca. 11 Euros. Attendance of the first session is mandatory. There will be an online platform for the seminar at www.uni-kassel.de/moodle. For the registration key, please check my office door or e-mail me. FB 05 Gesellschaftswissenschaften Uni Kassel SS 2008 Anglistik/Englisch Western European History Dr. Clark Thomas