The influential anime didn’t just upend kaiju tropes—it delivered an unsettling look at imperialism and hubris.
cold war
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘Did Something Happen to Mom When She Was Young?’
“The hidden history of the Cold War adoption complex.”
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
A Girl’s Guide to Missiles
A professor returns to the California military base where she grew up to make sense of her family’s role developing weapons for the US government.
Posted inHighlight, History, Nonfiction, Quotes
“99 Luftballons” and the Grim Fairy Tales of ’80s West Germany
On storytelling in the shadow of Chernobyl, U.S. military planes, and not-so-distant German history.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Children of ‘The Cloud’ and Major Tom: Growing Up in the ’80s Under the German Sky
“In the sky you could watch history happen as though on the world’s most massive TV, and history’s wreckage could rain down on you at the park with your friends.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Eastern Europe: Beyond the Cold War, and Beyond the Stereotypes
The homogenizing force of globalization means that a shopping center in Budapest doesn’t look all that different from one central Turin, or York, or Cleveland. Is “Eastern Europe” as an idea disappearing? Try Jacob Mikanowski’s essay in the LA Review of Books for some suggestions (and some objections).
Posted inEditor's Pick
Goodbye, Eastern Europe!
Is “Eastern Europe” disappearing? Was it ever real, or just a figment of Cold War imaginations?
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Back in the USSR: A Reading List
Six stories that examine the complicated heritage of the fall of the Soviet Union.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
On the Difference Between ‘Technical’ and ‘Tactical’ Spies
Why then does the American public still consider all spies to be demons? Why does the public make no distinction between technical spies like Julius Rosenberg stealing useful knowledge and tactical spies like Kim Philby destroying human lives? Perhaps it is because the American public is misled by the American secrecy system. The secrecy system is a bureaucratic monster that classifies vast quantities of information as secret, making it impossible for the ordinary citizen to see the difference between important and unimportant secrets.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
The Walls of Berlin: A Reading List
Four stories about the Berlin Wall, from its creation to the memories it has helped shape, to mark the 25th anniversary of its fall.