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Title: Only read if you are into intellectual history. No real connection with the Cold War
Review: I was assigned this book for a graduate seminar and had to write a book review on it. Otherwise I would have quit reading right away.I don't see any connection to the Cold War in this book. It was about 3 different think tanks in the 50s and 60s where Gilman goes through the evolution of the drafting of modernization theory. Gilman only shows the so what factor a handful of times as to what good these guys did during the Cold War. One was how Rostow was the driving force behind the Vietnam war. And one think tank briefed the senate in 1960 but Gilman does tell us what happened after the briefing.If you are into hearing about what a bunch of academics did in the 50s and 60s while sitting around talking to each other at conferences and their arguments in the books and articles they published. You would enjoy this book. This isn't what I like about history so in my opinion this was a waste of 2 days of my life reading.
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