The Cold War
A New History
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4.1 • 81 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Outstanding . . . The most accessible distillation of that conflict yet written.” —The Boston Globe
“Energetically written and lucid, it makes an ideal introduction to the subject.” —The New York Times
The “dean of Cold War historians” (The New York Times) now presents the definitive account of the global confrontation that dominated the last half of the twentieth century. Drawing on newly opened archives and the reminiscences of the major players, John Lewis Gaddis explains not just what happened but why—from the months in 1945 when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. went from alliance to antagonism to the barely averted holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the maneuvers of Nixon and Mao, Reagan and Gorbachev. Brilliant, accessible, almost Shakespearean in its drama, The Cold War stands as a triumphant summation of the era that, more than any other, shaped our own.
Gaddis is also the author of On Grand Strategy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
If it's difficult to imagine a history of the Cold War that can be described as thrilling, that should add more luster to Yale historian Gaddis's crown. Gaddis, who's written some half-dozen studies of the Cold War, delivers an utterly engrossing account of Soviet-U.S. relations from WWII to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. The ideological clash between democratic capitalism and communism predated the war, of course, but the emergence of nuclear weapons created a new political situation. Suddenly, it was easy to imagine total war that might destroy not only the enemy but also the victor. Gaddis assesses what he sees as the positive contributions Thatcher, Reagan and Pope John Paul II made to furthering the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. and concludes with a sympathetic portrait of Gorbachev; his refusal to use force ultimately cost him both communism and his country, but, says Gaddis, it also made him "the most deserving recipient ever of the Nobel Peace Prize." The interpretations on offer are not startlingly original we've read this before, mostly in other books by Gaddis himself but a new, concise narration was Gaddis's aim here, and he succeeds royally. His synthesis is sure to reign with general history readers and in undergraduate classrooms. 8 maps not seen by PW.
Customer Reviews
Today is like the title of Chapter One
The Return of Fear. This book couldn’t be more present today, Jan 22, 2025. I believe we are seeing this book but in mirror terms. It is suggested reading for out time of a new 1984. Will we survive and how did we survive the 1st time.
Well done
Really well done. Concise but informative.
Great
This is a great book that summarizes the Cold War. Although it doesn't go into detail about things like the Space Race or the Persian Gulf War, that's understandable because of the scope of things that need to be covered on this subject. I would say it's a great book for newcomers to the Cold War like myself.