The Cold War

This is a thick history of the Cold War that breaks new ground in that it shifts the emphasis from Europe, where the Cold War started and ended, to the Third World where it was actually fought in a bloody manner through a series of proxy wars, large and small.

This book describes the life of Baby Boomers everywhere in the world – well, more precisely, the way the world was arranged by powers great and small during their lives. Lucidly and concisely written, the narrative is both familiar and revealing at the same time. To those alive during some or all of the major events of the Cold War, this book stitches together scattered memories to produce an integrated whole that in turn begs the question of whether people or fate drive history.

Odd Arne Westad’s majestic book is a powerful narrative of the Cold War from beginning to end, taking in all the countries affected by the high-risk brinkmanship of America and the Soviet Union. He questions the idea that the Cold War was a ‘long peace’: for many, it was not peace at all. The author relates how it was particularly violent for the Vietnamese and Koreans, as well as for the thousands of Americans killed in action overseas. The strength of Wested’s book is that he knows both Chinese and Russian: it brings unusual depth and breadth to his wide-ranging… show more.