Acknowledgements Introduction Part One: 1979–1982 Chapter One: Revolutions in east and west: Iran and Nicaragua Chapter Two: Thatcher, Reagan and free markets: ghost towns, rust belts and a new individualism Chapter Three: Inside the Soviet bloc: the end of détente and the rise of Solidarność Chapter Four: Africa and decolonisation: twenty years after the ‘winds of change’ Part Two: 1983–1985 Chapter Five: Changes in China: the consequences of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms Chapter Six: Bombs, jobs and famine: music and global concerns Chapter Seven: Global crises: AIDS, acid rain and the ozone layer Chapter Eight: Mikhail Gorbachev: new man, new thinking Part Three: 1986–1988 Chapter Nine: Making a ‘modern’ decade: computers, videos and yuppies Chapter Ten: The first wave of Indian liberalisation: the Rajiv Gandhi era Chapter Eleven: South Korea’s twisted path to democracy Chapter Twelve: The Middle East in turmoil: Iran–Iraq and the first intifada Part Four: 1989–1991 Chapter Thirteen: Reagan and Thatcher depart, a new world order emerges Chapter Fourteen: Latin America’s transition to democracy: Chile and Haiti Chapter Fifteen: 'Free Nelson Mandela': the end of apartheid in South Africa Chapter Sixteen: The communist world breaks Conclusion Bibliography Index
Biography
Jonathan Davis is Senior Lecturer in Russian History at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He is co-editor of Labour and the Left in the 1980s (2018) and The British Labour Party and the Wider World (2008). He also writes about Soviet history.
‘Students will welcome this compelling and comprehensive introduction to the global 1980s, a pivotal and complex period that marked above all the assault on the post-war welfare state alongside the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Davis is admirably judicious in covering the triumph of economic liberalism, as well as the major pockets of resistance and counter culture. As we continue to grapple with the heritage of the long 1980s, this book has particular relevance. It is contemporary history at its very best.’
Ian Thatcher, Ulster University, Northern Ireland
