Cold War Civil Defence in Western Europe [electronic resource] : Sociotechnical Imaginaries of Survival and Preparedness / edited by Marie Cronqvist, Rosanna Farbøl, Casper Sylvest.

1. Introduction: New paths in civil defence history- Marie Cronqvist, Rosanna Farbøl and Casper Sylvest -- 2. Order on their home fronts: Imagining war and social control in 1950s NATO- Iben Bjørnsson -- 3. The imagined disastrous: West German civil defence between war preparation and emergency management 1950-1990- Jochen Molitor -- 4. Normalising nuclear war: Narrative scenarios, imaginative geographies and sites of leisure in 1950s Britain- Jonathan Hogg -- 5. Embedding preparedness, assigning responsibility: The role of film in sociotechnical imaginaries of civil defence- Peter Bennesved and Casper Sylvest -- 6. 'The world is her home': The role of women volunteers in Dutch civil defence in the 1950s and 1960s - Dick van Lente -- 7. Ruins of resilience: Imaginaries and materiality imagineered and embedded in civil defence architecture- Rosanna Farbøl -- 8. Framing civil defence critique: Swiss physicians' resistance to the Coordinated Medical Services in the 1980s- Sibylle Marti -- 9. Remembering desirable futures? Civil defence memories and everyday life in Sweden and the United Kingdom- Marie Cronqvist and Matthew Grant -- 10. Conclusion: Civil defence futures (re)imagined- Marie Cronqvist, Rosanna Farbøl and Casper Sylvest.

Open Access

"With its geographical focus on Western Europe and its application of the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries from science and technology studies, Cold War Civil Defence in Western Europe breaks new ground." - Christoph Laucht, Swansea University, UK "Too often, Cold War civil defence history has been limited to the two superpowers in the 1950s and early 1960s. This compelling collection demonstrates a great diversity of civil defence plans, periodizations, material interventions, and public responses across a number of NATO and neutral countries." - David Monteyne, University of Calgary, Canada This open access edited collection brings together established and new perspectives on Cold War civil defence in Western Europe within a common analytical framework that also facilitates comparative and transnational dimensions. The current interest in creating disaster-resilient societies demands new histories of civil defence. Historical contextualization is essential in order to understand what is at stake in preparing, devising, and implementing forms of preparedness, protection, and security that are specifically targeted at societies and citizens. Applying the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to civil defence history, the chapters of this volume cover a range of new themes, from technology and materiality to media, memory, and everyday experience. The book underlines the social embeddedness of civil defence by detailing how it both prompted new forms of social interaction and reflected norms and visions of the 'good society' in an age where nuclear technology seemed to hold the key to both doom and salvation.