Confronting America:

The Cold War between the United States and Communists in France and Italy

Alessandro Brogi

Based primarily on new evidence from communist archives in France and Italy, as well as in the United States, Brogi‘s original study reveals how the United States was forced by political opposition within these two core Western countries to reassess its own anticommunist strategies, its image, and the general meaning of American liberal capitalist culture and ideology. Brogi shows that the resistance to Americanization was a critical test for the French and Italian communists‘ own legitimacy and existence.

Delta Empire:

Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South

Jeannie Whayne

In Delta Empire, Jeannie Whayne employs the fascinating history of a powerful plantation owner -- Robert E. “Lee” Wilson -- in the Arkansas delta to recount the evolution of southern agriculture from the late nineteenth century through World War II and traces the transition from the labor-intensive sharecropping and tenancy system to the capital-intensive plantations of the post-World War II era. Through Wilson’s story Whayne provides a compelling case study of strategic innovation and the changing economy of the South in the late nineteenth century.

Imperial Endgame:

Britain's Dirty Wars and the End of Empire (Britain and the World)

Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon

In this fresh and controversial account of Britain‘s end of empire, Grob-Fitzgibbon argues that in the years 1945-1960 the British government developed a successful imperial strategy based on devolving power to indigenous peoples within the Commonwealth. This strategy was calculated to allow decolonization to occur on British terms, and to keep soon-to-be former colonies within the British and Western spheres of influence during the Cold War.

Women’s Roles in Latin America and the Caribbean

Kathryn Sloan

This work, part of the ABC-Clio "Women's Roles through History" series, commences with Queen Isabella of Spain (r. 1474-1504) and ends in the present-day, highlighting female political leaders such as Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff. Using hagiography, chap books, newspapers, films, literature, and archival documents, Sloan explores a diversity of topics and geographical spaces during this vibrant five-hundred year period including women’s labor, spirituality, and economic power in Latin America, Brazil, and the Spanish Caribbean island nations.