The Cold War from the Margins: A Small Socialist State on the Global Cultural Scene by Theodora K. Dragostinova (review)

Abstract

It is hard to believe that just thirty odd years ago, some scholars thought it pertinent to demand a “freeze” on the study of the Cold War, because there is nothing new to be written about the period.1 The suggestion was that while it might be possible to glean some overlooked facts, occurrences, or data from previously inaccessible archives, these are unlikely to challenge, let alone change, the existing frameworks for explanation and understanding. It seems however that time has proved such assessments premature, if not flawed. Instead of wilting, Cold War scholarship has blossomed into more than a “hundred flowers,” if we are to paraphrase Chairman Mao’s well-known adage. There has been a sustained and growing interest in troubling the bifurcated historical and geopolitical imaginaries of the Cold War by examining complex cultural trends and everyday practices. Rather than the relentless struggle between the homogeneous