Fall-Out Shelters for the Human Spirit - by Michael L Krenn (Paperback)

About the Book

Fall-Out Shelters for the Human Spirit: American Art and the Cold War

Book Synopsis

During the Cold War, culture became another weapon in America's battle against communism. Part of that effort in cultural diplomacy included a program to arrange the exhibition of hundreds of American paintings overseas. Michael L. Krenn studies the successes, failures, contradictions, and controversies that arose when the U.S. government and the American art world sought to work together to make an international art program a reality between the 1940s and the 1970s.

The Department of State, then the United States Information Agency, and eventually the Smithsonian Institution directed this effort, relying heavily on the assistance of major American art organizations, museums, curators, and artists. What the government hoped to accomplish and what the art community had in mind, however, were often at odds. Intense domestic controversies resulted, particularly when the effort involved modern or abstract expressionist art. Ultimately, the exhibition of American art overseas was one of the most controversial Cold War initiatives undertaken by the United States. Krenn's investigation deepens our understanding of the cultural dimensions of America's postwar diplomacy and explores how unexpected elements of the Cold War led to a redefinition of what is, and is not, "American."

Review Quotes

An illuminating and detailed treatment of some key episodes of the U.S. international art programs saga between 1945 and 1970.--Foreign Service Journal

Interrogates the relationship between the state and the art world. . . . A well-researched, well-written and insightful examination which throws light on a particular aspect of governmental approaches to cultural diplomacy.--History

Krenn's research far surpasses anything thus far done on this topic, and his analytical framework provides compelling insights into the cultural contradictions of the Cold War. This, in combination with a fluid and easily readable style, mark this book as a major contribution to the growing literature on the cultural dimensions of the Cold War.--American Historical Review