Book Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
History in Context.......2007-09-07
I found this book to be an extremely well organized survey of the Cold War. Professor Gaddis eloquently explains the sources of the conflict. He goes on to describe the escalation; and then points out how, somewhere in the middle, many of its actors came to view the conflict as permanent, and even desirable. He explains how it took men and women of vision to see the landscape of the future without the conflict as a permanent fixture, and then relentlessly pursue that vision.
The inclusion of the Soviet perspective from recently available sources makes this book especially interesting. The Soviets were pursuing global communism, which proved to be an unworkable solution to the ills of unbridled capitalism. But, we may never have had such crystal clear historical evidence of its unworkability if the Soviets hadn't undertaken their experiment.
Was the Cold War really dangerous?.......2007-07-17
The year Ronald Reagan died my mom commented to me, "What is all the fuss about Reagan? What did he ever do?" After I wiped the blood from my eyes, I asked her, "You don't speak Russian do you? If nothing else, you can thank him and men like him for that." People tend to forget what a formidable foe the USSR was and how close they came to winning the Cold War. Todays youth have even made the old Russian flag a fashion statement, wearing it on tee-shirts hoping to gain cool points from their hip socialist brainwashed friends. But the fact of the matter is that the Russian Empire was a threat. John Gaddis does an excellent job reminding us of this fact. Although the book is not an in depth study of the cold war, it is useful as a reminder to subsequent generations that the Communist threat was real, in American and throughout the rest of the world.
an excellent concise resource.......2007-06-30
Gaddis has done an excellent job of telling an extremely complicated history in a tight and well-written volume. The importance of his story is contrasted by his reminding the reader that his college students today have almost no living memory of the Cold War or just how serious a historical epic it was between two great powers.
As the world has changed dramatically over the past 16 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, this book will be an excellent resource to remember just what a huge struggle the Western bloc vs. the Soviet Union and its satellites was. This is not an ideaological book from the Yale professor Gaddis, but he gives credit to the end of the Cold War to three individuals and a people group: Ronald Reagan, Margeret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II and the people of eastern Europe who contiually stood up to the Soviet and local communist leaders.
A weak point of this book, which admittedly does not have time to explore the vast and complicated expressions of every part of the Cold War is Gaddis explanation for why the anti-war movements of the 1960's and 70's in the West erupted with as much fury as they did, and subsided almost as quickly. His explanation, that it was largely caused by baby boom young adults, coming of age, with lots of time on their hands seems like a short answer. Comparing and contrasting the reaction of the West to the Korean War vs. Vietnam might have made a better use of the text.
Gaddis presentation of how the Cold War started at the end of World War II is another excellent section, especially how the West, making practical concessions to the Soviets that they could never hope to bargain for at the end of the war, quickly turned European opinion against the Soviets by forcing the Soviets into the position of being the ones who built wall, established border police and shut themselves off because they had to keep people in.
The explanation of proxy conflicts, especially in the Middle East, is another highlight of the work. Seeing the Israeli and Palestinian conflict as rump to the Cold War, and the Soviets inability to deal with their Egyptian allies in Nasser further showed the weakness of the Soviet state.
While ultimatley Gaddis presents the end of the Cold War as being led by the four main actors mentioned earlier, his treatment of Gorbachev as a man who managed the end of the failure of the Soviet Empire and the inability of the Soviets to have a sustainable economic future - the very reason for its existence is told with great clarity.
Gaddis warns throughout the book that choosing an ends justifying the means approach got the West into more dificulty than anything else. The attempt by the West, especially between John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, to manage a stable world delayed the inevitable end of the Cold War and more than likely created greater human misery of the likes the world has rarely scene. Ronald Reagan, and Thatcher and John Paul, were in a sense revolutionaries, for they sought to win the Cold War by calling for total peace and not half measures of agreements and stability.
Very Good, Concise History.......2007-05-21
This is ideal if you're not looking for an 14,000 page account of the Cold War...you get a little background on everything, from nuclear tests to Cuba to the fall of the USSR. What you don't get is much detail, which, I suppose, is the intent of a concise history; a little more detail would have been nice, though. It's a 260 page book, a few more facts or stories here and there probably wouldn't have pushed this into "only for historians" territory, it's hard to complain about the brevity of a book whose aim is brevity. 'The Company' by Robert Littel goes well with this, as it fleshes out many of the major events here in a far less dry manner than most Cold War history books. Anybody looking for an overview of one of the largest, longest, most epic events in modern history should pick this up.
Recounting the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.......2007-04-19
One of the great debates in American foreign policy is how do you deal with repressive regimes. There are several schools of thought on how to proceed. The first is isolation (this has been the U.S. policy towards Iran and N. Korea). The second is confrontation (Iraq is the obvious example) and the third is communication (this would be the tactic used by Nixon in China and the policy of détente with the Soviet Union). Each policy has its advocates and detractors and each its plusses and minuses. Embracing China has worked out fairly well for its citizenry although there is much room for improvement. On the other hand supporting the Saudi monarchy has caused some serious headaches for the U.S. and Saudi citizens. Isolation and sanctions have a very poor track record and generally makes repressed citizenry even worse off. Confrontation can have unpredictable results that often exasperate the situation. Military confrontation can lead to considerable misery and verbal confrontation generally fails because one of the maxims of maintaining a dictatorship is demonstrating strength. The Bush administrations threats towards Iran and North Korea have fallen flat.
The ethos of `do no harm' fails when deciding how to deal with stable but brutal dictatorships or failing regimes. I was watching Hotel Rwanda with my girlfriend when she asked why the United Nations hadn't done more to protect the Tutsis from genocide. But what could the U.N. do? Slaughter the Hutus? The Tutsis had blood on their own hands. In the case of Bosnia the U.N. and U.S. bombed the hell out of the Serbians but again the Albanians were no angels and had in fact sided with the Axis during WWII. While trying to arrest Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid 18 American soldiers died but so did an estimated 1,000 and 1,500 Somali militiamen with an upwards of 4,000 injured Somali. So when does a humanitarian mission become a slaughter?
In the case of the Soviet Union the people were clearly suffering under a crushingly repressive dictatorship. Despite its claim to being a system of the working man, Communism was an intellectual farce and an economic disaster. It was also a system bent on spreading its message and extending its influence. So the debate in the West was between confrontation and isolation. In the end a compromise of sorts was formed ending in confrontation through proxies. The author gave several examples of countries playing the two superpowers off one another. By not explicitly siding with one or the other smaller countries could manipulate for their own benefit or "wag the dog".
`The Cold War' by John Lewis Gaddis is rather brief for a subject spanning over 40 years of history. The author spends a considerable amount of time discussing the changing nature of war after the invention of the atomic bomb. We all owe a debt of gratitude to leaders on both sides of the iron curtain for showing the wisdom and restraint to not use these horrifying weapons. `The Cold War' chronicles the history of the Soviet Union from Stalin to Yeltzin. In the Soviet Union there was no position high enough that one could be free from danger of removal. There will always be a debate on whether containment was the best solution or whether it was Reagan's confrontation that was the final nail in the coffin. The author clearly favors the style Reagan and Thatcher and pretty much omits the sections on U.S. meddling in South America and the Middle East in the name of containment. Reagan's refusal to use the nonworking SDI as a bargaining chip seems silly in retrospect but it was on his watch that the Soviet Union collapsed and since the world wasn't irradiated I figure he must have done SOMETHING right.
Book Description
This provocative book describes the sharp right turn the United States has taken following the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980. The treatment details how the policies pursued by the Reagan administration were a break from both the policies pursued by prior administrations and those pursued in other wealthy countries. The Reagan administration policies had the effect of redistributing both before- and after-tax income upward, creating a situation in which the bulk of the economic gains over the last quarter century were directed to a small segment of the population. The analysis explains how both political parties have come largely to accept the main tenets of Reaganism, putting the United States on a path that is at odds with most of the rest of the world and is not sustainable.
Customer Reviews:
Getting a Handle on 25 Years.......2007-07-24
Good compact survey of economic and political trends since 1980. Baker correctly (I believe) sees that date with the election of the arch-conservative Ronald Reagan as a watershed year. The narrative follows chronologically from the 1980 threshold and its background in the feckless Carter administration. Graphs and tables are included to buttress his points but do not disrupt the flow. It's not a polemical or particularly partisan work, though a critical undercurrent is sensed from time to time. Social issues such as gay rights, abortion, and other leading movements including the rise of religious fundamentalism are also discussed but not emphasized. There's not a lot of depth, though he's clearly most comfortable discussing causal factors shaping economic policy. Thus considerable light is shed on economic policy, particularly during the Reagan years. Put in perspective, the rightward swing over the past 25 years is unmistakable, as business backers see an opportunity to jettison or fatally weaken decades of fettering regulation. Now is a good time-- with the Bush debacle-- to get a handle on what this swing has wrought. Baker's handy little tome is a good place to start.
Enlightening and Entertaining.......2007-05-16
Fast reading and informative. I'll never view our goverment in the same light. The work was carfefully researched, the footnotes are plentiful. Once you read the first page its unlikely you can put the book down till its completed.
Dean Baker is the best.......2007-03-21
This book isn't what I expected. I wanted more facts and information on how the middle class has lost ground since 1980. This book is a good overview of government policy for the past twenty five years. You walk away from this book with a good overview of history. I'm going to have to dig a little deeper for the actual data that this book was based upon.
I'm a huge Dean Baker fan. Most economists are slaves to their perspectives. It's really hard to get good economic and fiscal views outside the corporate American view. Baker allows us to be free.
Baker predicts a recession this year because of the housing bubble. Lets see how accurate he is. I'm betting on Baker. Don't bank on the Wall Street guys, they seem more interested in protecting their clients than getting you truth.
Book Description
A longtime investigative journalist uncovers one of the great untold stories of twentieth–century international intrigue, and the secrets it has held 㟵ntil now.
Shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis and Bobby Kennedy, two of the world's richest and most powerful men, disliked one another from the moment they first met. Over several decades, their intense mutual hatred only grew, as did their desire to compete for the affections of Jackie, the keeper of the Camelot flame.
Now, this shocking work by seasoned investigative journalist Peter Evans reveals the culmination of the Kennedy–Onassis–Kennedy love triangle: Onassis was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy. Nemesis meticulously traces Onassis's trail – his connections, the way that he financed the assassination – and includes a confession kept secret for three decades. With its deeply nuanced portraits of the major figures and events that shaped an era, Nemesis is a work that will not soon be forgotten.
Customer Reviews:
You won't be disappointed...........2007-06-25
Fans of Callas, Onassis, & Kennedy(s) should embrace this book a.s.a.p. Peter Evans does a wonderful job. What an extraordinary story that is told. I couldn't put this book down for several weeks. Even after I've finished it, it inspires re-reading. Highly recommended!!
Confusing.......2007-06-09
I thought that this book would be interesting to me because I like the Kennedy family and am interested in conspiracy theories, but I was wrong. This book is pretty good, but it is really confusing with so many people involved that sometimes it is hard to keep straight who this person is and what they did.
Rumors and Questions Answered.......2007-03-24
Those who find a conspiracy in every world event will be satisfied with the well-researched and well-written account of the possible involvement of Aristotle Onassis in the assassination of Robert Kennedy. As to the oft-asked question as to why Jacqueline Kennedy would want to marry the Greek tycoon, it is answered with a new understanding of the greed and lust that drove these compelling personalities. The narrative fairly jumps from the pages of this very fast read. Even the footnotes are fascinating.
Whoa!.......2006-05-04
What a fascinating, very well written book! It seemed every page had a juicy morsel or two and really opened my eyes into what was really going on during the last months of John Kennedy's life and why Jackie married Aristotle Onassis. As a teenager, I was shocked she'd married someone who obviously wasn't a friend of the United States. But Peter Evans portrays Onassis as someone so fascinating, even desirable in his "bulldog" approach to women, maybe money wasn't the only reason. Then again, once you read this book your whole image of "Camelot" and the "Holy Widow" will never be the same.
Review for Seller.......2006-01-15
The book came quickly and in exactly the condition stated: like brand new. Will definitely look this seller up again next time I'm shopping for books.
Amazon.com
Gates, director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1991 to 1993, began in an entry level position and rose to the top. His insider's account of the Cold War, CIA operations and the unraveling of the Soviet Union is sprinkled with revelations including the fact that 1983 was the most dangerous year in U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations and that both the CIA and KGB sponsored countless "black operations" designed to embarrass and discredit the other side. Gates also reveals that he secretly met with KGB foreign operations chief Vladimir Kryuchkov on two separate occasions and how the CIA often acted in contempt of Congress. While none of this may come as a huge surprise, it never fails to shock when it's laid out in black and white by someone who was on the inside.
Customer Reviews:
"From the Shadows" by Robert M. Gates.......2007-10-01
Absolutely fascinating! Mr. Gates is an excellent writer and is able to make complicated information easy to follow. And what an insight he gave to the Presidents he worked for; he didn't have an axe to grind with any of them, even though they represented both political parties.
This is a book I enjoyed so completely that I hated to reach the end of it. It will be on my personal "re-read" list. No wonder Mr. Gates was selected to become Secretary of Defense in our nation's hour of need.
Engages the eyes and mind.......2006-11-17
Rarely do you run across a historical book that is so chocked full of names, dates and acronyms that engages your mind as you push to reader faster. Gates delivers great insight wrapped in words that are illustrative of the push and pull of power players - within and between government bodies - domestic and global. If you are curious about the claims of one party or the other concerning the end of the Cold War, then this book will prove to be enlightening. All contributed to the demise, but perhaps none more than the Soviets themselves. Great read. Engaging. Insightful. Illuminating. Perhaps now more than ever before this a read that helps look at the challenges we, as a global community, face today. Buy it. Read it. Gain perspective.
View from the inside.......2006-10-01
The CIA is probably the one institution that the US President controls the most; or so this book argues. Robert M. Gates spent over two decades working at the CIA, and is one of the few career officials who came in near the bottom and rose all the way to the top. This book is his memoir, and recollection of how the CIA served 5 consecutive presidents in the Cold War. Starting with Richard Nixon, and ending with the first George Bush, Gates shows how each president used, and sometimes abused, the CIA to further their policies with regard to the USSR and communist parties around the world.
The major points one gets from this book are as follows. First, Carter was no wimp with regard to the USSR. Second, the most dangerous years of the Cold War did not end with Vietnam; they included some years in the 1980's. Third, the CIA consistently disregards the laws of the US. Fourth, the CIA often gets suckered into doing thing at the whim of the president that it later regrets. Last, the first George Bush was probably one of the best diplomats the US has seen in recent times. Over all, this was a very good book and I am glad I read it.
Intense Reading - great enjoyment.......2002-09-18
Excellent account of what really goes on from the inside of the govt. They say that truth is better than fiction. This is true in a big way in this book. You will recall many of the events in not too distant history. They come alive in this book and history makes more sense. Intense reading - be sure to underline the names to keep track of the huge cast of characters. A big Aggie thumb's up for this one!
Informative but dry.......2002-07-23
Gates had access to some of the most fascinating characters in the history of the Cold War. His observations are incisive and revealing about many of these personalities; however, his book often reads like one might imagine a CIA memo reads, rather dry. The book provides feedback on several important historical instances but it does not go into much depth on any. I do not recommend it as a book used to learn the history of that era. Instead I would read it to gain a further understanding of what went on behind the scenes.
In general, I find Gates to be an interesting character himself. He has some hilarious anecdotes about life in the CIA. Such as when he is walking up the steps of Air Force One and turns to flip off several of the top officials (I think it was) in Romania after they botch his passport. In addition to a often dry sense of humor he also seems to have a great deal of character and integrity.
Book Description
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader offers in-depth portraits of North Koreas two ruthless and bizarrely Orwellian leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Lifting North Koreas curtain of self-imposed isolation, this book will take readers inside a society that, to a Westerner, will appear to be from another planet. Subsisting on a diet short on food and long on lies, North Koreans have been indoctrinated from birth to follow unquestioningly a father-son team of megalomaniacs. Revised and expanded for the paperback edition, this fascinating, definitive history brings the reader right up to the present-day tensions. For as this book direly predicted, North Korea has a legitimate nuclear program and appears to be the greatest threat to the world today.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating reading.......2007-08-23
"Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" is one of those books I knew that I should read, but was not quite ready to take on 800 plus pages of non-fiction.
That is until I started reading it. The knowledge and style of writing of the author has made what I expected to be another dull tome of non-fiction both fascinating and enjoyable.
I hope that Mr. Martin is planning a sequel. I will be standing in line.
David F. Canmpbell
Comprehensive and well-informed.......2007-07-15
Profiles of dictatorships are often memoirs of their victims or works of scholars with limited first-hand experience. Not so Bradley Martin's far-reaching profile of North Korea, which is probably unmatched in its variety of sources: numerous personal trips, exhaustively cross-checked defector accounts, and decades of research combine to form one of the few dense books on history and politics that might fairly qualify as a page-turner. A worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in the Asia's security situation or economic future, especially since North Korea sits at the crossroads of major powers like China, South Korea, and Japan.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About The DPRK.......2007-07-14
Bradley Martin's "Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" is absolutely outstanding. Simply put, this is everything you've ever wanted to know about the DPRK (and a lot of things you probably could have lived without knowing as well). The author presents the most detailed and objective (as objective as any individual can actually be) analysis of the Kim regime and North Korea that I have seen to date. To characterize Martin's scholarship as substantial would be a gross understatement. This is, from my perspective, the best and most comprehensive resource regarding North Korea currently available and should be required reading for anyone interested in the Hermit Kingdom.
Thorough, thorough, thorough.......2007-07-12
Everyone here has pretty much covered what the book is about. But it's so well-referenced - more than 100 pages of endnotes. There seemed to still be some aspects of North Korean life Mr. Martin was unable to access, but it's about as good as any Westerner will likely be able to do. The Kims are generally portrayed as crazy in the media at large, particularly Kim Jong-il. The book illustrates how, while both men were and are very flawed, they seemed to know exactly what they were doing. One is left with the feeling Kim Jong-Il isn't going anywhere, but after that is anyone's guess.
The perfect dictatorship.......2007-05-20
Bradley K. Martin's (BM) book is an excellent and rather detailed report on how North Korea works.
In his preface, the author reminds us of H.G. Wells' Time Machine and there especially the part where mankind has split into the Eloi and the Morlocks and how they control the Eloi. In Wells' book this process takes about 800,000 years. In North Korea this process was reduced to just over 50 years. The rest of the book explains how this transformation came about.
BM starts off with the biography of Kim Il-sung and there draws quite a bit on the dictator's own publications. He follows this up with the Korean War and Kim Il-sung's elimination of all rivals and establishment of a totalitarian state. He then goes through all the aspects of Korean society and economy. He also goes through the different classes in society, namely, those connected to the top leadership, those who are not and those who have an unclean spot in their past. One does get the impression that every other person fits into that latter category at least once during their lifetime.
There is also a fair bit on Kim Jong-il and his unpopularity. The author shows that it was Kim Il-sung who messed up the economy. Kim Jong-il is blamed for it because he surfaced officially around the time things started to go wrong. However, there is no need to shed any tears, Kim Jong-il is quite a screwy character in his own right. You can read that right through the whole book.
BM gathers all this information through his own trips to the country and through interviews with defectors. Using such information can be a touchy business, but I don't think the author is at risk here because of the large number of people he must have interviewed for this book (one notices that throughout the book). This should allow him to cross-reference information quite thoroughly.
BM also deals with the nuclear issue. He does support a negotiated settlement. In the book, he recounts the testimony of a defector as to what would be necessary to bring such a settlement about. This testimony struck me as if the US is expected to go the distance with North Korea reaping the benefits without any steps of its own apart from (maybe) dismantling its nuclear programme.
Finally, the author looks into the future. He recounts North Korea's economic liberalisation although I am dubious whether these small steps will lead anywhere useful. I agree with him that it is in the common interest in the region that North Korea continues to exist but I find a regime change inconceivable. There are testimonials from various defectors which seem to imply a lot of discontent, but the book as a whole gives the impression of North Korea being the perfect dictatorship, so that opposition could not organise itself in such a way to bring about a large scale uprising.
In the final pages, the author suggests to Kim Jong-il to change his regime into a Thai-style constitutional monarchy, but having read the book I doubt that the `dear leader' is capable of making such a transition.
I urge you to also read the footnotes because there is a lot of additional information in there.
This is excellent stuff. One note of caution though, it is at times a very chilling read.
Book Description
The Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the United States indelibly shaped the world we live in today--especially international politics, economics, and military affairs. This volume shows how the globalization of the Cold War during the 20th century created the foundations for most of today's key international conflicts, including the "war on terror." Odd Arne Westad examines the origins and course of Third World revolutions and the ideologies that drove the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. towards interventionism. He focuses on how these interventions gave rise to resentments and resistance that, in the end, helped to topple one and to seriously challenge the other superpower. In addition, he demonstrates how these worldwide interventions determined the international and domestic framework within which political, social and cultural changes took place in such countries as China, Indonesia, Iran, Ethiopia, Angola, Cuba, and Nicaragua. According to Westad, these changes, plus the ideologies, movements and states that interventionism stirred up, constitute the real legacy of the Cold War. Odd Arne Westad is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2004 he was named head of department and co-director of the new LSE Cold War Studies Centre. Professor Westad is the author, or editor, of ten books on contemporary international history including Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950 (2003) and, with Jussi Hanhimaki, The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts (2003). In addition, he is a founding editor of the journal Cold War History.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Overview of a Neglected Topic.......2007-10-06
This fine book is devoted to a hugely important topic typically neglected in most discussions of the Cold War; the course and impact of the Cold War in the Third World. Most overview monographs on the Cold War concentrate on US-Soviet relations and/or the impact of the Cold War in Europe and Japan. Westad successfully attempts an overview and structural analysis of the Cold War in the Third World. Westad opens with a pair of summary chapters on the USA and Soviet Union leading up to the beginning of the Cold War. He then covers the early decades of the Cold War in the Third World concisely, and devotes much of the book to the last 2 decades of the Cold War, including detailed analyses of the events in Afghanistan, Africa, and Central America. Based on a wealth of secondary sources and analysis of primary literature from both US and Soviet archives, the narrative is comprehensive, clear, and punctuated with thoughtful analysis.
There is a lot of surprising information. While many readers will be aware of US interventions in places like Guatemala and Iran, Westad's descriptions of the depth of US interventions in places like Indonesia and Brazil will come as a surprise. Similarly, his description of how the Soviet involvement in the Third World came to be seen as a crucial element of the legitimacy of the Soviet state goes a long way towards explaining why the events in Afghanistan had such importance. With respect to the battleground states of the various Third World countries where US and Soviet interventions took place, this is generally a series of tragic stories, usually involving considerable bloodshed and impoverishment.
Westad goes considerably beyond good narrative. Several well articulated themes run through the narrative. A basic concept is that the Cold War was driven by two competing ideologies about what should be the basis of modern society - American liberal capitalism and Soviet communism. Westad is very good on how ideological considerations consistently drove US and Soviet policy decisions, including the many cases where ideology led to gross misunderstandings of reality. Another important theme is the independent role of local elites in Third World countries. Over and over again, these elites or portions of them sought superpower support to pursue their own ends, often quite different from those of the superpowers. This led, for example, to the depressingly frequent US support of brutal dictatorships and the Soviet support of regimes who suppressed local communist parties. Westad is very good as well at showing how the Cold War involvement of the superpowers was entangled with decolonialization, another important theme. Both the US and Soviet Union presented themselves as, and made serious efforts to act as, modernizers. In a series of particularly ironic developments, both US and Soviet policies often mimicked the development policies of the imperial states they displaced.
My only substantial criticisms of Westad are his treatment of the origins of the Cold War. Westad presents US policies as rooted in a long history of US expansionism and capitalist ideology. There is considerable truth in this position but it ignores some of the specific circumstances of the 1940s. The failure of the post-WWI settlement seemed to demand a dominant international US role after WWII. Similarly, as Westad's own narrative shows, US fears of the Soviet Union were driven in good part by Stalin's aggressive and paranoid behavior.
Westad concludes by highlighting the frequently tragic consequences of US and Soviet intervention in Third World states, often transforming local conflicts into major disasters. The results of US and Soviet interventions in the Third World are among the most important results of the Cold War, and these results have been largely negative.
A good introduction.......2007-06-23
This is an important introduction to the topic of the Third World and the Cold War which has been gaining more study recently and deservedly so. For too long the history of the Cold War focused on foreign policy and Europe, but this book examines the doctrine of intervention, beggining mostly with Eisenhower in the U.S and increasing greatly with Khruschev and Brezhnev in the U.S.S.R. The book examines unique examples such as Cuba, Vietnam, Southern Africa, and Afghanistan. But it is also a sweeping account of this phenomenon, whereby many countries went from being colonized to being politiszed between the West and the Soviet Union. A very interesting study that seeks to show how the modern state of affairs in the world is tied up with the affects of the Cold War.
Seth J. Frantzman
The Third World and the Cold War.......2007-05-15
Westad presents a disturbing but comprehensive and balanced evaluation of U.S. and Soviet policies towards Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia in the 1946-1991. His research is exhaustive, and his conclusions are cautionary for American interventionists in the post-Cold War era.
Important and surprisingly readable new account of our times.......2007-04-01
Westad's book offers a new interpretation of the second half of the twentieth century, one that focuses on how the conflict between the US and the USSR-- and the division of the world into two halves-- played out in the Third World, and shaped and was shaped by the politics of those regions. The first two chapters are fairly heavy going, as Westad lays out sweeping statements about first the US, then the USSR, arguing that both countries developed around ideas that committed them to an almost evangelical form of statehood, of exporting their way of life. As he moves into the middle of the book, however, the story really takes off; he offers well-informed, fascinating case studies ranging from Angola and Ethiopia to Iran and Afghanistan. In every case, he illuminates the way in which the US and USSR offered only two sides on the playing field, and how people in these Third World countries responded by playing the superpowers off one another. One of the central processes that he brings to light is the way in which this situation eventually encouraged the rise of sectarian movements in many of those countries, including fundamentalist Islam, which appears here as a natural development from a generation who had watched their predecessors cast in with one of the two superpowers, and end up pawns in a global chess game. After finishing this book, I felt that I had an entirely new perspective on American history in the 20th century and better understood current-day issues from the rise of Islam to American support for Israel to the politics of central Africa. Certainly NOT a light read, but an invaluable one.
An interesting thesis.......2006-06-02
From reading Westad's book it appears that the American loss in Vietnam actually led to the Soviets losing the Cold War. After the American defeat in Vietnam, the Soviets believed that they could ignore the popular front strategy that they used in Spain during the thirties and continued in Egypt and Indonesia, and replace it with a more revolutionary strategy that would abandon the popular front phase. This was the main reason they supported the revolutionary governments in Angola and Ethiopia. However wars in these African countries and Central America drained the Soviet economy. Finally the Soviets believed that they could prevent Afghanastan from falling to the competing revolutionary ideology of Islamic fundamentalism. Ths further led to financial and human losses for the Soviet Union and finally its collaspse. It is ironic after the Soviet loss in the Cold War the Americans find themselves blinded by triumphalism and committing serious mistakes in the Middle East and Latin America.
Book Description
International Relations Since 1945 is a one-volume authoritative historical analysis of international relations during the Cold War and its aftermath. It both describes and interprets events since 1945 for an undergraduate audience. It explores how the Cold War impacted upon world politics as a whole, but also deals with such important regional problems as the Middle East, the development of European integration and the end of the European empires in Africa and Asia. While focusing on political change, careful attention is paid to the evolution of the global economy and the interplay between international and domestic developments, as well as to the growth of 'interdependence'. Particular attention is paid to the role of the United States, especially in the 1990s when it became the world's only Superpower. The text covers the nature of the Cold War, the development of the Western and Eastern blocs, North-South, decolonization and Third World issues, international economic relations, armaments and nuclear strategy and globalization.
Book Description
This highly acclaimed book offers a complete political history of East Central Europe from World War II to the present. Return to Diversity, now in its third edition, introduces a new co-author, Nancy M. Wingfield, and has been fully updated to cover events up through the 1990s. It includes an account and analysis of the developments in post-communist regimes throughout the region, addressing the transformation of each country during the first post-communist decade. It discusses coalition politics, ethnic discord, and issues of democratic development. This new edition features additional maps and extensively revised reading lists to reflect the most current scholarship in the field. Unsurpassed in scope, in depth of analysis, and in fairness and objectivity, Return to Diversity is an invaluable resource for students of this regions history and politics.
Customer Reviews:
tangled history.......2007-02-23
The tangled and often bloody history of eastern Europe is updated to include events after the end of the Cold War. Rothschild writes of the conflicting influences that drove events. Like the myriad nationalisms (Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Serb, Croat...) that were often suppressed under the Warsaw Pact. During the Cold War, these could often be neglected by analysts. Yet later, some would erupt into open tension or outright conflict. The latter being the Yugoslav Wars.
The book's title alludes to this suppressed diversity of heritages and ethnicities. It also contains material about the Cold War that only became available after its end.
Still the best survey of communist Eastern Europe out there.......2001-06-14
Rothschild's _Return To Diversity_ really is an outstanding classic (easily withstanding the cliched abuse of that label!). I have yet to see a better one-volume treatment of the postwar political history of Eastern Europe. Not that Geoffrey Swain and Nigel Swain's book is bad, just that Rothschild is richer and treats each country in more detail.
Rothschild does not deal with the Baltics or other republics of the former Soviet Union. He treats Poland, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania in their respective sections in each chapter.
His introductory background chapters, one on the interwar period and an even longer one on WW II are excellent summaries, considering Rothschild has already written the classic on _East Central Europe between the Two World Wars_.
I used _Return to Diversity_ both as a student ten years ago, and recently to teach a course on the politics of Eastern Europe; I was very happy to find it still being published. Going back through it, I was amazed how consistently Rothschild treats each country on the topics of leadership politics, economic development, social relationships vis-a-vis each regime, the extent of opposition and civil society, and foreign relations. He did it so well that I was able to construct a one-page "grille" of essential, quick and dirty information to help students compare countries (after having them concentrate on two countries each).
Not only is this book perfect to catch students up on communist history in the most efficient way, I personally find it invaluable to verify basic facts and details quickly. Country specialists will, of course, need to look elsewhere for details for which surveys simply don't have the space.
The updated chapter on post-communist politics (presumably where most of Dr. Wingfield's contribution comes in) is good as far as it goes, but frankly, you'll find more thorough treatments of post-communist Eastern Europe elsewhere in more space than this volume has available.
Overall, this book is well worth the money and easily merits five stars. The style of writing may put some laypeople and students off, but the fact is that Rothschild writes very eloquently as an "old school" historian, and if it sometimes seems dry, it's because of all the information he managed to cram into it. I repeat, this book is the best survey of communist Eastern Europe out there, and will no doubt remain so for some time to come.
Book Description
Despite its status as the world's lone superpower, the United States confronts a variety of serious challenges in the world today: ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear tensions involving Iran and North Korea, and strained American relations with allies in the European Union and the United Nations. In updating their book, authors Hook and Spanier find that these new developments are in keeping with the overarching theme of their classic text--that there is an American "style" of foreign policy imbued with a distinct sense of national exceptionalism. Through a thorough understanding of the United States' past actions, students can then fully grasp the functions and frequent dysfunctions of the nation's foreign-policy process.
Providing a lively and concise review of the conduct of American foreign policy since World War II, early chapters are strengthened by new historical findings, while recent developments since 9/11 receive thorough treatment and analysis. A stand-alone chapter on the Iraq War provides essential historical context as well as a detailed assessment of recent events across the Middle East. The book's presentation and usefulness are enhanced by new tables and figures, updated photos and maps, and annotated web resources.
Customer Reviews:
The Ultimate Guide to US Foreign Policy.......2005-07-07
Now in its 16th edition, American Foreign Policy Since World War II has become one of the most respected guides on the ins and outs US foreign engagement in the 20th century. Combining theory and insight to this historical perspective, Hook and Spanier have created a very thorough book that takes a balanced look at both the domestic and international issues that have shaped US foreign policy. This book is comprehensive and comprehensible, making it perfect as leisure reading for those interested in international politics or a text for an international relations course. The fourteen chapters:
1. The American Approach to Foreign Policy
2. From World War to Cold War
3. Containment: From Theory to Practice
4. Developing Countries in the Crossfire
5. Vietnam and the Cost of Containment
6. The Era of Superpower Detente
7. Jimmy Carter and World-Order Politics
8. The Revival of Superpower Confrontation
9. The End of the Cold War
10. America's "Unipolar Moment"
11. Old Tensions in a New Order
12. The Shifting European Landscape
13. America under Fire
14. A World of Trouble
are useful individually to address a specific issue, region, or time period, and as a set to provide a broad overview.
Building Blocks.......2005-01-11
Steven W. Hook and John Spanier's book on American foreign policy since WWII is a great introduction for those seeking a detailed yet concise elucidation. The authors exploit all levels of analysis (unit, state, and system), and posit a "peculiar national style" and a degree of continuity as underlying the nature of US foreign policy since 1945. Despite the lucanae bound to be found in a wide-ranging account, Hook and Spanier's book is still an excellent building block for understanding post-WWII US foreign policy as well as basic international relations' theory.
Book Description
An easily accessible and complete one volume reference covering the fast changing world of politics since World War II.
- "The book compels admiration for its thoroughness, its scope, the masterly ordering of its immense material"---The Sunday Times, London
- "The most lucid, comprehensive, intelligent, and reliable account of post-war modern history on the market"---Teaching Politics, on an earlier edition
- Updated to include the convulsive collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the furthering of the European Union, mixed fortunes in Africa and the transfer of Hong Kong.
Written in an impeccably clear, succinct and challenging way, World Politics 1945-2000 is an invaluable and authoritative guide through the complexities of contemporary international politics, through the Cold War and post-Cold War world order. Coverage includes the immediate aftermath of the disintegration of the Soviet empire in Europe and the Soviet Union itself, the convulsive collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the Gulf War against Iraq and it various sequels, the Maastricht Treaty for the furthering of the European Union and the Euro currency. Also covered are the tensions in China between economic liberalization and the stringencies of communism in the shadow of Deng Xiaoping's prolonged rule, mixed fortunes in Africa--from optimism in South Africa, Ghana and even Angola to grimness or worse in Nigeria, Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia. The thin times for the UN is explores as well as the expiring GATT and internationalism generally. There are numerous biographical assessments of key figures now including Deng, Khomeini, Mitterand, Thatcher and Reagan.
Peter Calvocoressi is a figure of distinction in the field of International relations. A former reader in International Relations at the Univeristy of Sussex, he is the author of numerous books including, Independent Africa and the World, Fall Out: World War II and the Shaping of Postwar Europe, and Resilient Europe: A Study of the Years 1870-2000. During the war he worked in British Intelligence at Bletchley Park and from 1946-47 attended the Nuremberg Trials
Customer Reviews:
A good start to world politics.......2006-12-14
There are several books that try to cover world history and no one in particular stands out. This particular book has the strengths of being very thorough and not getting hung up on a particular United States view of the world. My one compliant is it is slanted very far to the left. For those who are looking for a summary of the world and starting a career in International Relations this is a great book to start with. Used in combination with Why Nations go to War they make for two very good books. This is primarily a diplomatic history of the world and keeps that perspective throughout the book.
Books:
- The Covenant with Black America
- The Cultivation of Hatred (Gay, Peter//Bourgeois Experience)
- The Explorer Race
- The God Delusion
- The God Delusion
- The Industrial Revolution, 1760-1830 (OPUS)
- The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany
- The Inspirational Study Bible
- The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land
- The Last Diary of Tsaritsa Alexandra (Annals of Communism Series)
Books Index
Books Home
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1945 - Present
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Postwar : A History of Europe Since 1945
America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West
The Case For Goliath: How America Acts As The World's Government in the Twenty-first Century
