Exploring the Impact of the Cold War on Global History: An Edited Collection by Odd Arne Westad

Paolo B.: Lettura indispensabile per comprendere il "guscio" della Guerra Fredda. Anche se – ma mi pare occhio – molto di quello che non può essere detto, come il ruolo dell'Italia asservita non può essere detto.

Italy on Dec 15, 2023

VirajViraj: The book covers all the aspects of the Cold War instances in over the four decades after the second world war. Also it explains briefly how the seeds the ideological war was sown in the first half of twentieth century.

The author has mainly focused on the policies of the USSR and USA under their respective presidents during their terms. Also the internal happenings of China, West and East Europe, Cuba, Vietnam and Korean wars are the main focal points of the book.

The other conflicts in South America, Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent and South East Asia are also covered in short. If you looking for detail history of these regions during the Cold War then I would suggest to look for other books.

The author has tried to explain the outlook of the people from both the blocks and the stand of non aligned countries. Also how the people were influenced from the American culture and socialist exposure in various parts of the world.

Though I would have liked more of the statistical data and maps for better understanding. Surprisingly there is not a single map provided for a history book like this.

Overall the book is for anyone who wants to know...

India on Apr 26, 2023

Bill Gallagher: Westad's book is a comprehensive analysis of the Cold War. Nothing needs to be said further since it clearly earned the Bancroft Award for good reason. The only other book to compare is Gaddis' book on the Cold War. Both should be in any serious inquirer and student of the Cold War. Must read.

United States on Mar 23, 2023

Mrs Royle: This is the best book I have read on the late 20th century. It gives a perspective on the 90% of the world population which is not "us", the good, the only "value bearers" (and arms to make sure the values are understood). It creates connections and continuum of actions and consequences which we still feel today.

I am begging professor Westad to write a follow up on the first 20+ years of the 21st century.

United Kingdom on Oct 13, 2022

Mark Higgins: This is an exceptional book for people who are willing to invest a considerable amount of time to understand the underlying currents of the Cold War. What was most revealing was just how horrible the atrocities were after World War II ended. Most people reference the horrors of World War II as ones we can never allowed to happen again, but they do not realize that they already did happen again several times over in the Soviet union, China, and much of the developing world after European empires collapsed. The book goes into a bit too much detail at times, which is why readers need to invest quite a bit of time to get through this book. That said, it is an extraordinary piece of work.

United States on Aug 13, 2022

Ove Torpe: The author is summing up important events before during an after the cold war. He concludes that the US "won", which may be hard for some to accept. The same goes for his ecaluation of the Marxist - Leninist legacy. But many of us will share his conclusions. The quote of an old Bulgarian conmunist boss at the end of the book is pricless.
Anecdotes an characterisations of key players both precise and entertaining. For those of us who remember much of this from growing up this is both an entertaining and intresting read.

United States on Jul 05, 2022

evan: Learned a lot reading the book and enjoyed the read. The book is pretty long though, so if you go slowly I could see it becoming a slog.

Biggest problem with the book in my opinion is that (since I was not alive when any of these events occurred) it is hard to place the events described within a global timeline. The book is organized around kind of sub timelines which focus on events that form a cohesive and related sequence usually within a specific region, but these overlap in time and so you are constantly jumping forward / backward. I found it hard to understand the simultaneous events going on in other parts of the world while reading these sections. Not sure what could be done about that; maybe just inevitable as just covering events chronologically would lose much of the cohesiveness.

Also noticed that there is a lot of repetition (like saying basically the exact same thing but 40 pages apart) although could also be a plus as you might forget things.

Also you realize how much of a bird's eye view the book is when a topic like the Vietnam war is covered in very few pages (like 25 pages).

United States on May 07, 2022

Martin G Messidoro: I'm really enjoying it. It's a bit long and the names and dates get all mixed up in some moments but it's unbelievable detailed, I'm very happy with this purchase

Germany on Feb 07, 2022

Blues Feel: Not very good.

Canada on Dec 30, 2020

Paul Kuhn: Mr. Westad does an outstanding job of showing both the global reach of The Cold War. How essentially what started out as a bipolar conflict between the US and USSR over control and domination of Europe spread to Asia, Latin America and Africa. He also shows its limitation while both the US and USSR saw everything in that prism. In most parts of the world that global conflict took a back seat to the end of colonization, the vast gaps between rich and poor in many parts of the world. The result was that both US and Soviet policy makers made decisions that severely negatively impacted those countries that became battlegrounds between the two competing ideologies. Some may not care for the layout of this book how Mr. Westad goes from country to country or region to region. It is not specifically a chronological order of The Cold War, though it does have that component. I found it interesting to see the Global reach of the Cold war and its limitations .

United States on Nov 19, 2017