This issue opens with an article by our new editor, Merry Wiesner-Hanks, which introduces her to our readers. First written before she became one of our editors, it lies in the ‘surveys and speculations’ tradition of journal articles, and we hope that it will encourage more submissions of this type to the Journal of Global History. Professor Wiesner-Hanks tackles the subject of gender in the context of transnational history, seeking to understand why this topic has not figured prominently in debates to date. The article therefore serves as an invitation for submissions of articles on aspects of gender history to the Journal of Global History.

The issue closes with a cluster of three pieces concerning the Cold War. Unlike our first foray into grouping articles, published in the previous issue, the theme of the Cold War did not emerge from a conference or similar academic gathering. Rather, it was the product of serendipity, and there is thus no editorial to preface the cluster. However, a scarlet thread runs through the three texts, namely ‘Third World’ agency in the Cold War. Prasenjit Duara’s article considers ‘counter-hegemonic’ forces emerging from China and parts of the Islamic world, challenging the domination of the two superpowers. Nicole Sackley examines the resistance and adaptation of ‘villagers’ to both welfare and strategic plans, from Southeast Asia through to Central America. Finally, Tobias Rupprecht demonstrates how Brazil’s relations with the Soviet Union largely bypassed links to the United States, even after the army had seized power in Brasilia in 1964, reflecting common problems relating to developmental strategies.

William G. Clarence-Smith