# Diana Cucuz, "Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds: Selling Cold War Culture in the US and the USSR" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-gender-612984/diana-cucuz-winning-women-s-hearts-and-minds-selling-cold-war-culture-in-the-us-and-the-ussr-u-toronto-press-2023
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-gender-612984/diana-cucuz-winning-women-s-hearts-and-minds-selling-cold-war-culture-in-the-us-and-the-ussr-u-toronto-press-2023.md
Podcast: [New Books in Gender](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-gender-612984)
Published: 2026-07-11T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8011583528.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8011583528.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-gender-612984/episodes/diana-cucuz-winning-women-s-hearts-and-minds-selling-cold-war-culture-in-the-us-and-the-ussr-u-toronto-press-2023
Duration seconds: 2129

## Resource

In this episode, Alisa interviews Dr. Diana Cucuz about her book, Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds: Selling Cold War Culture in the US and the USSR (University of Toronto Press, 2023) and also asks her for advice to beginner scholars studying gender and the Cold War. A bit about Dr. Cucuz’s book: throughout the Cold War, Soviet citizens had limited access to US life and culture. Amerika, a glossy Russian-language magazine similar to Life, provided a rare exception. Produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA), America’s first peacetime propaganda organization, Amerika was used to influence the Soviet public and convince women in particular that an American-style consumer culture and conservative gender norms could better their lives. Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds relies on USIA archives, issues of Amerika, and American women’s magazines such as the Ladies’ Home Journal to show how, during the postwar period, USIA officials deployed idealized images of American women as happy, fulfilled, and feminine wives, mothers, and homemakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-gender-612984/episodes/diana-cucuz-winning-women-s-hearts-and-minds-selling-cold-war-culture-in-the-us-and-the-ussr-u-toronto-press-2023/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-gender-612984/diana-cucuz-winning-women-s-hearts-and-minds-selling-cold-war-culture-in-the-us-and-the-ussr-u-toronto-press-2023.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.