We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Council on Foreign Relations Book) - Hardcover

Gaddis, John Lewis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198780702 ISBN 13: 9780198780700

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1997

Synopsis

The end of the Cold War makes it possible, for the first time, to begin writing its history from a truly international perspective, one reflecting Soviet, East European, and Chinese as well as American and West European viewpoints. In a major departure from his earlier scholarship, John Lewis Gaddis, the pre-eminent American authority on the United States and the Cold War, has written a comprehensive comparative history of that conflict from its origins through to its most dangerous moment, the Cuban missile crisis. We Now Know is packed with new information drawn from previously unavailable sources; it also reflects the findings of a new generation of Cold War historians. It contains striking new insights into the role of ideology, democracy, economics, alliances, and nuclear weapons, as well as major reinterpretations of Stalin, Truman, Khrushchev, Mao, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. It suggests solutions to long-standing puzzles: Did the Soviet Union want world revolution? Why was Germany divided? Who started the Korean War? What did the Americans mean by `massive retaliation'? When did the Sino-Soviet split begin? Why did the U.S.S.R. This book is intended for scholars and students of International Relations, postwar US-Soviet relations and political history.

About this title

Review

'A masterly review of the early phases of the conflict between the United States, Russia, China and their respective allies...it is clear, thorough and judicious; in short, magnificent.' (The Economist Review)

'A new narrative of the first half of the Cold War up to the Cuban missile crisis...We Know Now is an important book. It deserves a wide readership.' (Taylor Downing, The Observer)

About the Author

About the Author: John Lewis Gaddis will become Robert Lovett Professor of History at Yale University in the Autumn of 1997. He has been Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio University, where he founded the Contemporary History Institute.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0198780702
• ISBN 13: 9780198780700
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 436