Ice and Snow in the Cold War: Histories of Extreme Climatic Environments - Paperback

by Julia Herzberg (Editor), Christian Kehrt (Editor), Franziska Torma (Editor)

The history of the Cold War has focused overwhelmingly on statecraft and military power, an approach that has naturally placed Moscow and Washington center stage. Meanwhile, regions such as Alaska, the polar landscapes, and the cold areas of the Soviet periphery have received little attention. However, such environments were of no small importance during the Cold War: in addition to their symbolic significance, they also had direct implications for everything from military strategy to natural resource management. Through histories of these extremely cold environments, this volume makes a novel intervention in Cold War historiography, one whose global and transnational approach undermines the simple opposition of "East" and "West."

Author Biography

Franziska Torma works on the history of marine biology at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich (project funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG). Her research interests include the history of science and the cultural and environmental history of the nineteenth and twentieth century.