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The Great American Mission : Modernization and the Construction of an American World Order / David Ekbladh.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: America in the World ; 6Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2011]Copyright date: ©2009Edition: Course BookDescription: 1 online resource (408 p.) : 17 halftonesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691152455
  • 9781400833740
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 338.9173 23
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. THE RISE OF AN AMERICAN STYLE OF DEVELOPMENT, 1914-1937 -- 2. THE ONLY ROAD FOR MANKIND -- 3. A GOSPEL OF LIBERALISM -- 4. "THE PROVING GROUND" -- 5. "THE GREAT AMERICAN MISSION" -- 6. A TVA ON THE MEKONG -- 7. "EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG" -- 8. NEW DEVELOPMENTS -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX
Summary: The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism. Modernization took on profound geopolitical importance as the United States grappled with these threats. After World War II, modernization remained a means to contain the growing influence of the Soviet Union. Ekbladh demonstrates how U.S.-led nation-building efforts in global hot spots, enlisting an array of nongovernmental groups and international organizations, were a basic part of American strategy in the Cold War. However, a close connection to the Vietnam War and the upheavals of the 1960s would discredit modernization. The end of the Cold War further obscured modernization's mission, but many of its assumptions regained prominence after September 11 as the United States moved to contain new threats. Using new sources and perspectives, The Great American Mission offers new and challenging interpretations of America's ideological motivations and humanitarian responsibilities abroad.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400833740

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. THE RISE OF AN AMERICAN STYLE OF DEVELOPMENT, 1914-1937 -- 2. THE ONLY ROAD FOR MANKIND -- 3. A GOSPEL OF LIBERALISM -- 4. "THE PROVING GROUND" -- 5. "THE GREAT AMERICAN MISSION" -- 6. A TVA ON THE MEKONG -- 7. "EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG" -- 8. NEW DEVELOPMENTS -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

The Great American Mission traces how America's global modernization efforts during the twentieth century were a means to remake the world in its own image. David Ekbladh shows that the emerging concept of modernization combined existing development ideas from the Depression. He describes how ambitious New Deal programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority became symbols of American liberalism's ability to marshal the social sciences, state planning, civil society, and technology to produce extensive social and economic change. For proponents, it became a valuable weapon to check the influence of menacing ideologies such as Fascism and Communism. Modernization took on profound geopolitical importance as the United States grappled with these threats. After World War II, modernization remained a means to contain the growing influence of the Soviet Union. Ekbladh demonstrates how U.S.-led nation-building efforts in global hot spots, enlisting an array of nongovernmental groups and international organizations, were a basic part of American strategy in the Cold War. However, a close connection to the Vietnam War and the upheavals of the 1960s would discredit modernization. The end of the Cold War further obscured modernization's mission, but many of its assumptions regained prominence after September 11 as the United States moved to contain new threats. Using new sources and perspectives, The Great American Mission offers new and challenging interpretations of America's ideological motivations and humanitarian responsibilities abroad.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jul 2021)