The thesis of this engaging anthology can be simply stated. Over roughly half a century, the Cold War produced such ubiquitous effects on U.S. society that some of its oddest margins can reveal the impact of the geopolitical conflict. The proof of its shadow over the conduct and attitudes of ordinary citizens lies in the unsuspected, unexplored domains that conventional political historians might otherwise have ignored. The promise of such a thesis lies in its freshness and its effort to expand what scholars of the period are obliged to consider. The downside of so broad a claim, however, is the publication of essays that leave the contours of historical interpretation unrevised, giving readers instead a sense of the capriciousness and irrelevance of topics too distant from the public culture. That eclecticism is a trap that Red Reckoning does not entirely elude.
Of the book's fifteen chapters, seven have already been...