The definitive history of the Cold War and its impact around the
world
We tend to think of the Cold War as a bounded conflict: a clash of two
superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, born out of the
ashes of World War II and coming to a dramatic end with the collapse of
the Soviet Union. But in this major new work, Bancroft Prize-winning
scholar Odd Arne Westad argues that the Cold War must be understood as a
global ideological confrontation, with early roots in the Industrial
Revolution and ongoing repercussions around the world.
In The Cold War, Westad offers a new perspective on a century when
great power rivalry and ideological battle transformed every corner of
our globe. From Soweto to Hollywood, Hanoi, and Hamburg, young men and
women felt they were fighting for the future of the world. The Cold War
may have begun on the perimeters of Europe, but it had its deepest
reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every
community had to choose sides. And these choices continue to define
economies and regimes across the world.
Today, many regions are plagued with environmental threats, social
divides, and ethnic conflicts that stem from this era. Its ideologies
influence China, Russia, and the United States; Iraq and Afghanistan
have been destroyed by the faith in purely military solutions that
emerged from the Cold War.
Stunning in its breadth and revelatory in its perspective, this book
expands our understanding of the Cold War both geographically and
chronologically and offers an engaging new history of how today's world
was created.
