The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction

Most sentences on most pages are covered with a highlighter pen. Difficult to read.

After searching some time for a short history of the Cold War, this little gem virtually fell into my lap. Though it's very, very brief, I cannot mark it down for excluding material because it is simply meant as an introduction. Because my previous experiences of this genre have been mixed: The Wall: The People's Story, The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989 and The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis, I actually approached it with some trepidation. This was particularly the case because it was written by an American. What I got was very different from what I expected. While Gaddis approaches the subject with heavy handed jingoism, relating standard conventional wisdom, Robert McMahon delivers a very reflective style of analysis which promotes a real understanding of what was going on. I have never believed in a partisan approach to history because it only ever gives one side of the story while making the other side look ridiculous or untenable. Rather than simply saying that the Soviets did something evil and getting bogged down in a moral argument, McMahon actually explains why it happened the way it did and leaves it for the reader to judge for themselves. Without this approach it would be just another book. He goes into some detail about the levels of political aggression on both sides but with particular reference to the rhetoric delivered by a conga line of US presidents starting with Truman and ending with Reagan. This is what makes the book unique and it is this question of American sense of proportion which takes it to another level. How bad was the threat from the USSR and how much did a level of US paranoia contribute to upping the ante? Gaddis, in contrast, is simply incapable of doing that. In the end we learn that it was Gorbachev who was making all the concessions, usually against the will of some extremist apparatchiks and not without significant personal risk. It happened so quickly, in fact that the changes even pre-empted US pressure. The subtext of McMahon's thesis is that the traditional view that the US won the Cold War by superiority in technology and philosophy was not actually what happened. It was not the US who won but the entire world and from the point of view someone who lived through it, is a far more accurate and sympathetic analysis of what happened. This is a great little book, as is the case with so many in this series and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's not for everyone and if your political persuasions don't run in this direction, you probably won't like it. If you are reasonably open minded, you will end up with a far better understanding than you might from a traditional view many times the length. McMahon has enough material to easily write a book 4 times the size which would be a great source on the period and would probably be a best seller. The sooner he does it, the better because I'll be first in the queue to buy it!

This is exactly what the title says, the entire Cold War in 168 pages. Oxford University Press has started this "Very Short Introductions" series on many different subjects for those with short attention spans or those teaching undergraduate courses (two categories which aren't necessarily mutually excusive). I decided to read this one to see what there books were like, and to see if this book could be used in one of my future classes. For anybody that has some in depth knowledge of the Cold War, or certain aspects thereof, this book can be very frustrating, since it is a brief overview of events. However, everything is covered, from the origins to the battle for the Third World to Cold War culture to the collapse of the Eastern Block. For someone wanting a short intro to the Cold War outside of a University, this would serve them well, though the book pays much more attention to the US than the Soviet Union. When I cover this subject in future classes I will cover most of the areas covered in this book in lectures, and will assign reading looking at one or two aspects of the Cold War in more detail.

This is a pocket sized book with a title that implies it offers a brief overview of the Cold War but make no mistake, there is nothing lacking in this little gem. Starting with World War II and the destruction of the old Eurocentric world order, the book progresses to the origins of the Cold War, through developing problems in South East Asia, the rise of the Superpowers and finally ends with the fall of Communism in the former USSR. There are many illustrations and some useful maps along with a very useful chapter pointing to further reading for anyone wishing to extend their knowledge of the subject. This book contains more than enough information to give a good grounding in the subject, not only for the casual reader but also for the student. It may be a `very short introduction' but it is an extremely thorough one.

I'm a Political Science/History major at the University of Pittsburgh, and this was one of the books in a ps class I took. It's very well written, and very informative. McMahon gives a brief rundown of the history and policy of the United States and the Soviet Union during this era in a way that's not at all hard on the reader. It was actually a very fun read, and is quite helpful if you don't know much about the Cold War. It's also short enough that it can easily be read in one sitting in a couple of hours. Great read, and a good book to pick up.

McMahon presents this survey of the Cold War with authority, insight, and balance. He takes us from the events of WWII that set the scene, to the US and Soviet disagreement over the disposition of Germany after the war, to the competing ideologies that led to a global competition, to the detente of the 70's, and to the end of the Cold War. He puts the key events and players in their correct Cold War perspective, and he doesn't shrink from making moral judgements along the way. I came away with a much firmer grasp on this important episode in our history.