Madness in Cold War America

This study presents a cultural history of madness in the Cold War, tracing its origins in the transfer of European psychology, the re-evaluation of psychosis in the Sixties and the retreat of the left under Reagan.

Alexander Dunst is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Paderborn.

1. Introduction: Cold War Madness 2. The Pathologies of Dissent: Constructing the Cold War Psyche 3. Practical Cures: From Radical Psychiatry to Self Help 4. A Sane Madness?: Psychosis and Cold War Countercultures 5. Paranoid Narrative: Writing the Secret History of the Cold War 6. A Schizophrenic Postmodernity: Literary Studies and the Politics of Critique