Now in its third edition, Cold War provides an accessible and comprehensive account of the decades-long conflict between two nuclear-armed Superpowers during the twentieth century.
This book offers a broader timeline than any other Cold War text, charting the lead-up to the conflict from the Russian Revolution to World War II, providing an authoritative narrative and analysis of the period between 1945 and 1991, and scrutinizing the 30-year aftermath, including the prospect of a "new Cold War." In this new edition, Carole K. Fink provides new insights and perspectives on key events, with an emphasis on people, power, and ideas. The third edition covers developments in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America as well as in Europe. It also includes
- Eleven new or revised maps that illustrate the global reach of the long conflict
- An extended chronology that includes recent international events
- A discussion of the post-Cold War roles of the US, Russia, and China in world politics
- An updated bibliography reflecting new scholarship in Cold War and post-Cold War history
Cold War is the consummate book on this complex twentieth-century rivalry and will be of interest to students of contemporary US and international history and history enthusiasts alike.
0. Introduction 1. Soviet Russia and the West, 1917-1941 2. The Grand Alliance, 1941-1945 3. Cold War, 1945-1952 4. The Widening Conflict, 1953-1963 5. The Sixties 6. Détente, 1969-1975 7. Detente Collapses, 1975-1980 8. The Second Cold War, 1981-1985 9. The End of the Cold War, 1985-1991 10. Aftermath: A New World Disorder 11. Conclusion
Biography
Carole K. Fink is Humanities Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at The Ohio State University, USA. She is an award-winning author, editor, and translator of 15 books, including West Germany and Israel: Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics, and the Cold War, 1965-1974 (2019) and Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection, 1878-1938 (2006).
Praise for Cold War
"Carole Fink’s excellent book offers an engaging and succinct account of how the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union shaped dynamics around the globe during the twentieth century and beyond. The third edition of Cold War: An International History includes an updated and expanded discussion of some of the most important legacies of the Cold War and should be required reading for anyone interested in American foreign relations or recent world history."
—Jessica Elkind, San Francisco State University, USA
"Lucidly composed and vividly written, this updated edition takes the reader on a breathtaking journey through the Cold War. Carole Fink brilliantly demonstrates the global repercussions of the conflict between West and East as much as the autonomous interests of actors in the Global South. Her succinct synthesis will serve as an indispensable guide for students and scholars alike."
—Andreas Daum, SUNY Buffalo, USA
"Fink updates her revisionist story of the very long Cold War of the 20th Century. There is great authority and intellectual energy in this readable text. Fink argues that Superpowers dominated events, but all regions and smaller powers were touched by – and helped to shape the global Cold War. She also reveals its darker sides. But it was courage and realism mixed with negotiation and compromises, that finally brought it to an end."
—Anne Deighton, University of Oxford, UK
Among the surveys of the Cold War, Carole Fink’s stands out for its genuine global inquiry, including previously overlooked actors. This third edition adds new insights throughout, particularly on the global 1960s, the end of the Cold War, and the conflict’s legacies to the present day. Elegant, eloquent, and informative – all the way to the meticulous bibliographical appendixes by theme – Carole Fink’s book finely wraps together scholarly insights and pedagogical accessibility.
—Alessandro Brogi, University of Arkansas, USA
"Fink has written a landmark treatment of the Cold War by using new archival sources to flesh out the true relationship between the Soviet Union and the West . . . Highly recommended."
—Choice
"A perspicacious review of Soviet international relations from 1917 onwards and a deft analysis of how wrangling over the fate of Germany and Eastern Europe during and after WWII laid the foundations for the coming rivalry . . . Fink’s crisp, lucid prose and judicious, even-handed assessments impart a coherent arc to complex events; students especially will find this an invaluable introduction to a watershed era of modern history."
—Publishers Weekly
"Fink has provided a compact, objective, and insightful account that illustrates how disputes over the post–World War II fate of Europe morphed into a conflict that engulfed regions across the world . . . She deftly illustrates how Third World nations became hapless pawns in the broader geopolitical struggle, and she concludes with a sharp description of the residual effects of the Cold War upon the major and minor participants. This is an ideal introductory text for college students and general readers."
—Booklist
"Cold War: An International History offers instructors, students, and the general public a well-organized and highly readable survey of recent history in all its implications."
—Russian Review
"Prizewinning author Carole Fink’s book on the Cold War, now in its second edition, is superb. Drawing on her almost unrivaled mastery of numerous languages and familiarity with many cultures, Fink goes well beyond the usual account of the bipolar world in the period beginning with World War II. She addresses the whole era from the Russian revolution to the present and includes fascinating new material on developments outside Europe as well as on the two main antagonists. Fink writes beautifully and in a way easily accessible to students. Her Cold War opus rates as a great achievement."
—Stephen A. Schuker, University of Virginia, USA
"By virtue of the sweep of its geographical reach and the breadth of its chronological framing, this updated edition of Professor Fink’s book allows its readers to understand the centrality of the Cold War to the shaping of modern and contemporary global history."
—Aviel Roshwald, Georgetown University, USA
"Carole Fink’s enthusiasm as an academic teacher of international history directly translates into this energetic, elegantly written book. It makes stunningly clear that we need to understand the history of the 20th century’s Cold War in order to understand today’s world."
—Norbert Frei, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
"Cold War: An International History is a magnificent narrative of the Cold War from a global perspective. This is unsurprising, given Carole Fink’s reputation for combining breadth of vision with meticulous transnational research. She has so clearly, gracefully and insightfully covered the crucial elements of the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the West, combining key details, recent discoveries, and transnational perspective with wonderfully cosmopolitan analysis of the larger meanings and the historical trends—all of which make this such a superb account of the Cold War."
—John Whiteclay Chambers II, Rutgers University, USA
"Cold War: An International History is a must read for all history enthusiasts. Through her clear prose and many years of research and expertise on the subject, Carole Fink brings refreshing new perspectives to the Cold War, going beyond the conflict between the US and the USSR to include meaningful discussions of key events in Africa, Asia, and Latin America."
—István Deák, Columbia University, USA
"Written by a renowned scholar of international history, this concise and masterfully composed analysis of the Cold War in global perspective cannot be recommended highly enough for undergraduate and graduate teaching."
—Volker Berghahn, Columbia University, USA
"Cold War: An International History is a comprehensive, analytical, and sovereign overview that provides readers with clear arguments, while never losing sight of the complexity of the Cold War. The book shows Carole Fink, one of the leading historians of twentieth-century international relations, at the height of her powers."
—Holger Nehring, University of Stirling, UK
