3In discussing Michael C.C. Adams’ The Best War Ever: America and World War II, we will
focus on answering the following questions. For the second mid-term, you will be expected
to have mastered the answers to them.
1) According to Adams, what is the danger of remembering World War II as “the
best war ever?”
2) According to Adams, what was life like in the battle zones of World War II? What were the
potential long-term consequences for American soldiers who survived battle?
3) According to Adams, how did Americans living in the United States during the war perceive
the battle overseas? What forces helped shape Americans’ perception of the war?
4) According to Adams, how did World War II impact the lives of American women and what
was it like to be a woman involved in the war effort overseas?
5) According to Adams, what was it like to be African American or a member of another
minority group (for example, homosexuals and Mexican-Americans) during World War II
whether at home or in the military? What did the U.S. government do to many people of
Japanese descent living in the United States
1945-1962
The transformations talked about today were atleast in the background and often in the
foreground for the reminder of the cold war
Lecture 11 – The Early Cold War, 1945-1962
Goals:
To begin to answer the following questions:
What was the Cold War and what forces drove its early development?
What were some of the ways that the United States attempted to stop the spread of communism
between the late 1940s and early 1960s?
How did the Cold War impact politics here at home?
To understand the meaning and significance of the following names, concepts and terms:
Communism/Socialism v. Capitalism
The Cold War
Containment
The Korean War
Senator Joseph McCarthy
The Cuban Missile Crisis