The Cold War

Resumen del libro

The Cold War dominated international relations in the second half of the 20th century

Charting almost fifty years of global confrontation, The Cold War is ideal for the general reader looking for a thorough introduction to the subject, and indispensable to all students of the era, highlighting the impact of the conflict on the culture of the times, and bringing home the reality of life in the shadow of the Bomb.

A geopolitical contest between the United States and its allies on one side, and the Soviet Union, China and their associates on the other, the Cold War was about power and military competition, but it was also a struggle between two political and economic systems.

Nuclear weapons meant that this rivalry could not escalate without the risk of global oblivion. Crises arose and proxy conflicts occurred, sometimes resulting as in Korea and Vietnam in large-scale death tolls. In the main, however, confrontation took the form of a battle for hearts and minds. Coinciding with a new era of mass communications, the war was conducted through propaganda campaigns in books, newspapers, radio, cinema and, later, television.

Michael Hopkins is an expert guide to the origins, development, eventual ending and ongoing legacies of the Cold War.

A set of loose-leaf facsimile documents includes a Soviet poster, an information leaflet on how to survive an atomic bomb, a letter from President Truman and propaganda comics
More than 150 images including contemporary photographs, cartoons, film posters and magazine covers give further insight into the tensions and global impact of the Cold War
Includes boxes on specific themes and events and many quotations from first-hand accounts