Americans All: Good Neighbor Cultural Diplomacy in World War II
2013; Oxford University Press; Volume: 100; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jahist/jat495
ISSN1945-2314
Autores Tópico(s)Latin American and Latino Studies
ResumoTo boost wartime cooperation in the Western Hemisphere, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration launched what Darlene J. Sadlier terms “the most fully developed and intensive use of soft power in U.S. history: Nelson A. Rockefeller's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (ciaa)” (p. 2). Sadlier presents an exhaustive account of the ciaa's wide-ranging activities promoting educational programs, influencing film and radio productions, and subsidizing translations and libraries, all to improve inter-American understanding. It is the most substantial English-language monograph on the topic to date. At its best, the book offers insights based on the author's close reading of individual texts. Popular Disney animated films ignored Latin American urban modernity, casting the region as a “folkloric Eden” and exhibiting a “colonialist fascination with the indigenous female” (pp. 48, 55). ciaa officials' uneasiness about race—Orson Welles saw several of his scripts spiked for focusing on the plight of racial minorities in the Americas—emerges as a significant theme. Sadlier also presents lengthy lists of programs and performers, which demonstrate the voluminous range of ciaa activities. The most original contribution of the author's extensive research in U.S. and Brazilian archives is her discovery of the short-circuited ciaa attempts to mitigate the injustice and bad publicity surrounding the 1943 zoot suit riots in Los Angeles.
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