Works in Progress: Goodwill Makes Good Politics: The Cold-War Friendships of Soviet and American Women - A Presentation by Alexis Peri

Why can’t we be friends? Based on more than 800 unpublished letters, this talk explores the efforts of Soviet and American women to become friends and develop an intimate understanding of each other during the tumultuous early years of the Cold War, 1945-1958, a time when most scholars assume there was little contact between American and Soviet citizens. The talk explores how and why women were thrust into this role, how they discussed a range of topics—from the geopolitical to the everyday—and how they marshalled their own life stories and epistolary styles to connect with and convince their interlocutor. Drawing on their letters themselves, the talk will demonstrate how the participants practiced the arts of friendship and of politics at the same time.

The Works in Progress presentations are intended to foster interdisciplinary conversations among Europeanists at BU. Open to faculty, graduate students, and visiting researchers. RSVP to edamrien@bu.edu.