ties at home as much as by his awareness of the dan-
gers of nuclear confrontation and his growing trust
of President Reagan.
At the same time, however, given Gorbachev’s vul-
nerability, the U.S. “victory” over communism came
at a cost: Gorbachev’s willingness to compromise
with liberals at home and cold warriors in the United
States were the reasons cited by those who sought to
depose him in the summer of 1991. While he sur-
vived the coup, he did not survive much longer polit-
ically, and by August, 1991, power in the Kremlin was
in Boris Yeltsin’s hands. Gorbachev’s fall had much
to do with Reagan’s Cold War rhetoric and policies.
It was very difficult for Gorbachev to consolidate his
hold on power at home while simultaneously adopt-
ing a more dovish position toward the United States,
an extremely hawkish opponent. After the Cold
War, moreover, the debt accumulated by the United
States to end it continued to grow for decades, be-
coming a seemingly permanent part of the U.S. fed-
eral budget.
Further Reading
Brune, Lester H.Chronology of the Cold War, 1917-
1992. New York: Routledge, 2006. A lengthy
(seven-hundred-page), authoritative, and de-
tailed summary of the Cold War that faithfully
takes readers through its final moments during
the 1980’s and into the implosion of the Soviet
Union in 1991-1992.
Cannon, Lou.President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. One of the
best accounts of the man widely praised for win-
ning the Cold War, written by his longtime biogra-
pher.
Collins, Robert M.Transforming America: Politics and
Culture in the Reagan Years. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2007. More scholarly than Can-
non’s work, this volume offers specific chapters
on Reagan’s relations with the Soviet Union and
his role in winning the Cold War.
Hook, Steven W., and John Spanier.American Foreign
Policy Since World War II. 16th ed. Washington,
D.C.: CQ Press, 2007. A standard short text on the
topic, with outstanding chapters on the revival of
confrontation politics during the 1980’s and the
Cold War’s conclusion at the decade’s end.
LeFeber, Walter.America, Russia, and the Cold War,
1945-2006. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2006. Widely
available work that carefully places the events of
the 1980’s into the context of the superpower
conflict that dominated international affairs for
nearly half a century.
Joseph R. Rudolph, Jr.See also Berlin Wall; Bush, George H. W.; Foreign
policy of the United States; Middle East and North
America; Military spending; Olympic boycotts;
Olympic Games of 1980; Reagan, Ronald; Reagan
Doctrine; Reaganomics; Soviet Union and North
America.Color Purple, The
Identification Novel
Author Alice Walker (1944- )
Date Published in 1982
The Color Purplestirred great controversy upon its pub-
lication in 1982; it was both hailed and attacked for its
characterization of gender roles, its interpretations of sexu-
ality and religion, and its portrayal of the strength and re-
sults of the bonds of female friendship.
The controversy generated byThe Color Purple
(1982) continued throughout the 1980’s. Author Al-
ice Walker, a self-described “womanist” (a term meant
to oppose the largely white and middle-class associa-
tions of “feminist”), defended the book against
charges of male-bashing and reverse sexism. These
accusations stemmed from Walker’s critical portrayal
of male characters, particularly the central male pro-
tagonist, referred to namelessly in the first chapters
of the book as “Mr.____.” Walker responded that her
accusers failed to read the book through to the end,
or to study it carefully enough to see her real mes-
sage, a variation on universal salvation for men and
women of all races and social stations.
The novel’s central character, an African Ameri-
can woman named Celie, is sexually abused by her
stepfather, Alfonso, from whom she births two chil-
dren. She is forced to relinquish both. Alfonso then
forces Celie to marry Mr.____, while targeting her
sister, Nettie, as his next victim. Nettie runs away and
ends up in Africa, sending letters to Celie that are in-
tercepted and hidden by Mr.____.
Throughout many chapters, Celie and other
women in the novel are victimized by men who are
subtly portrayed as being victims themselves. Celie
writes to God and expects help, but it does not come.The Eighties in America Color Purple, The 227