Delivery included to the UK  ·  Free reserve & collect in our bookshops

Publisher's Synopsis

"Outstanding . . . The most accessible distillation of that conflict yet written." -The Boston Globe

"Energetically written and lucid, it makes an ideal introduction to the subject." -The New York Times

The "dean of Cold War historians" (The New York Times) now presents the definitive account of the global confrontation that dominated the last half of the twentieth century. Drawing on newly opened archives and the reminiscences of the major players, John Lewis Gaddis explains not just what happened but why-from the months in 1945 when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. went from alliance to antagonism to the barely averted holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the maneuvers of Nixon and Mao, Reagan and Gorbachev. Brilliant, accessible, almost Shakespearean in its drama, The Cold War stands as a triumphant summation of the era that, more than any other, shaped our own.

Gaddis is also the author of On Grand Strategy.

About the Publisher

Penguin Books

The first ten paperback Penguin books appeared in 1935 costing 6d each (the price of a packet of cigarettes). Since then the Penguin list has developed enormously, but still aims to bring the best writing to the widest possible audience. Penguin Paperbacks now range from Booker Prize-winning contemporary authors, to mass market bestsellers, with successful history, biography and general non-fiction as well.

Book information

ISBN: 9780143038276
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Imprint: Penguin Books
Pub date:
DEWEY: 909.825
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 333
Weight: 318g
Height: 213mm
Width: 140mm
Spine width: 20mm