The Cold War’s Afterlife
On this episode of American Prestige, part 1 of a discussion on post–Cold War malaise of the 1990s.

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
On this episode of American Prestige, we chat with Penny Von Eschen, William R. Kennan Jr. professor of American Studies and professor of history at UVA, about her book Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Triumphalism and Global Disorder since 1989.
In this first part of the discussion, the group explores the affective dimension of nostalgia, how the “end of history” and “clash of civilizations” narratives influenced U.S. policy starting in the 1990s. We also discuss the post-Cold War malaise that took hold, and the proliferation of anti-government ideologies amidst a massive increase in military spending.
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US President Bill Clinton and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Stamford Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand, on September 12, 1999, during the first day of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.
(Stephen Jaffe / AFP via Getty Images)On this episode of American Prestige, we chat with Penny Von Eschen, William R. Kennan Jr. Professor of American Studies and professor of history at UVA, about her book Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Triumphalism and Global Disorder since 1989.
In this first part of the discussion, the group explores the affective dimension of nostalgia, how the “end of history” and “clash of civilizations” narratives influenced US policy starting in the 1990s. We also discuss the post–Cold War malaise that took hold, and the proliferation of anti-government ideologies amidst a massive increase in military spending.

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
Danny and Derek welcome to the show Julia Gledhill and Van Jackson, co-hosts of the Un-Diplomatic podcast, to talk about the Trump administration’s newly released National Security Strategy. They discuss how the document leans on civilizational framing, portrays competition as existential conflict, omits diplomacy and institutions in favor of coercion and deal-making, and deemphasizes democracy promotion. They also touch on the strategy’s treatment of Europe and Latin America, its assumptions about American power, and what the new NSS suggests about the direction of U.S. foreign policy.
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