This collection offers a fresh interpretation of the Cold War as an imaginary war, a conflict that had imaginations of nuclear devastation as one of its main battlegrounds. The book includes survey chapters and case studies on Western Europe, the USSR, Japan and the USA. Looking at various strands of intellectual debate and at different media, from documentary film to fiction, the chapters demonstrate the difficulties to make the unthinkable and unimaginable - nuclear apocalypse - imaginable. The book will be required reading for everyone who wants to understand the cultural dynamics of the Cold War through the angle of its core ingredient, nuclear weapons.

"Duck and cover" are unforgettable words for a generation of Americans, who listened throughout the Cold War to the unescapable propaganda of civil defense. Yet it would have been impossible to protect Americans from a real nuclear attack, and, as Guy Oakes shows in The Imaginary War, national security officials knew it. The real purpose of 1950's civil defense programs, Oakes contends, was not to protect Americans from the bomb, but to ingrain in them the moral resolve needed to face the hazards of the Cold War. Uncovering the links between national security, civil defense, and civic ethics, Oakes reveals three sides to the civil defense program: a system of emotional management designed to control fear; the fictional construction of a manageable world of nuclear attack; and the production of a Cold War ethic rooted in the mythology of the home, the ultimate sanctuary of American values. This fascinating analysis of the culture of civil defense and the official mythmaking of the Cold War will be essential reading for all those interested in American history, politics, and culture.

Kristy Fitzpatrick just can’t catch a break. As a mortal in a magical world, she often feels disconnected from the rest of her mystical, more exciting classmates. The only thing that she has to compete with in the classroom is her mind. But even for a magical being like her impulsive naiad best friend, Brianna, life is far from stable. Centuries ago, when a fully formed labyrinth sprang from the ocean, the magic emanating from its ivy walls caused all kinds of devastating magical consequences that affect the planet every year from magical instability in beings all over the world to chaotic natural disasters. Every year, four high school students are chosen to enter the labyrinth and try to break its hold on the world by solving a series of complex riddles and challenges. Most never come out. But when Kristy’s school is selected as the home of the next four students, despite her lack of choice in the matter, she sees an opportunity to do something that no other student has managed to do so far: survive the labyrinth. In Volume 1 of this Hunger Games-meets-Maze Runner high fantasy story from Kindle Vella and Radish, Kristy is about to learn whether her mind and body are up to the task. Because somehow, as she tests her own limitations, the Labyrinth is learning how to best her and her companions. There is no telling what kind of obstacles could come next.

Rosen argues that armies and navies are not forever doomed to "fight the last war." Rather, they are able to respond to shifts in the international strategic situation.