Bryn Upton's new book, Hollywood and the End of the Cold War, a contribution to the Film and History series published by Rowman & Littlefield, covers a lot of ground and offers up plenty of films for consideration in the context of late 20th, early 21st-century cinema. Guiding us through the texts in a relaxed and efficient manner, Upton's book is a good first primer for students approaching the subject of the Cold War and its aftermath from a cultural perspective. Roaming across the landscape of the postwar world through foreign policy pictures, to superhero movies, by way of science fiction analogies, the author conceives of a rich tapestry of Hollywood films whose signs and signifiers readily identify the Cold War influence and persuasion.
Upton's introduction is a nice historical summation of the period, and the Cold War–era films he has chosen are likewise reflections, even refractions, of the...