Empire of Pictures: Global Media and the 1960s Remaking of American Foreign Policy (Explorations in Culture and International History Book 8)

"In Cold War historiography, the 1960s are often described as a decade of mounting diplomatic tensions and international social unrest. At the same time, they were a period of global media revolution: communication satellites compressed time and space, television spread around the world, and images circulated through print media in expanding ways. Examining how U.S. policymakers exploited these changes, this book offers groundbreaking international research which shows that U.S. power came to depend more and more not on military superiority or economic strength alone, but also on America's ability to create appealing pictures that assured recognition of its global leadership" ... Provided by publisher Contents List of Figures Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction Why Empires Need Pictures Part I. The Rise of the Visual Age Chapter 1 The Picture State and Its Innovators Chapter 2 Contact Points with Empire and the Globalizing of Media Part II. Picturing Empire Chapter 3 Prosperity: Official Visits to the United States Chapter 4 Progress: Popular Aspirations, the Global South, and the Politics of Imagination Chapter 5 Peace: Space Flights as “Pictorial Acts” Chapter 6 Power: Global Media and the Other History of the Vietnam War Conclusion From Nixon to Obama, or: The Legacy of the 1960s Endnotes Bibliography Index In Cold War historiography, the 1960s are often described as a decade of mounting diplomatic tensions and international social unrest. At the same time, they were a period of global media revolution: communication satellites compressed time and space, television spread around the world, and images circulated through print media in expanding ways. Examining how U.S. policymakers exploited these changes, this book offers groundbreaking international research into the visual media battles that shaped America's Cold War from West Germany and India to Tanzania and Argentina.