{"product_id":"the-cold-war-the-united-states-and-the-soviet-union-19171991","title":"The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union  1917-1991","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor half of the twentieth century  the Cold War gripped the world. International relations everywhere--and domestic policy in scores of nations--pivoted around this central point  the American-Soviet rivalry. Even today  much of the worlds diplomacy grapples with chaos created by the Cold Wars sudden disappearance. Here indeed is a subject that defies easy understanding. Now comes a definitive account  a startlingly fresh  clear eyed  comprehensive history of our centurys longest struggle. In The Cold War  Ronald E. Powaski offers a new perspective on the great rivalry  even as he provides a coherent  concise narrative. He wastes no time in challenging the reader to think of the Cold War in new ways  arguing that the roots of the conflict are centuries old  going back to Czarist Russia and to the very infancy of the American nation. He shows that both Russia and America were expansionist nations with messianic complexes  and the people of both nations believed they possessed a unique mission in history. Except for a brief interval in 1917  Americans perceived the Russian government (whether Czarist or Bolshevik) as despotic; Russians saw the United States as conspiring to prevent it from reaching its place in the sun. U.S. military intervention in Russias civil war  with the aim of overthrowing Lenins upstart regime  entrenched Moscows fears. Soviet American relations  difficult before World War II--when both nations were relatively weak militarily and isolated from world affairs--escalated dramatically after both nations emerged as the worlds major military powers. Powaski paints a portrait of the spiraling tensions with stark clarity  as each new development added to the rivalry: the Marshall Plan  the communist coup in Czechoslovakia  the Berlin blockade  the formation of NATO  the first Soviet nuclear test. In this atmosphere  Truman found it easy to believe that the Communist victory in China and the Korean War were products of Soviet expansionism. He and his successors extended their own web of mutual defense treaties  covert actions  and military interventions across the globe--from the Caribbean to the Middle East and  finally to Southeast Asia  where containment famously foundered in the bog of Vietnam. Powaski skillfully highlights the domestic politics  diplomatic maneuvers  and even psychological factors as he untangles the knot that bound the two superpowers together in conflict. From the nuclear arms race  to the impact of U.S. recognition of China on detente  to Brezhnevs inflexible persistence in competing with America everywhere  he casts new light on familiar topics. Always judicious in his assessments  Powaski gives due credit to Reagan and especially Bush in facilitating the Soviet collapse  but also notes that internal economic failure  not outside pressure  proved decisive in the Communist failure. Perhaps most important  he offers a clear eyed assessment of the lasting distortions the struggle wrought upon American institutions  raising questions about whether anyone really won the Cold War. With clarity  fairness  and insight  he offers the definitive account of our centurys longest international rivalry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44945764745269,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195078519","price":27.57,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195078510.jpg?v=1770475734","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-cold-war-the-united-states-and-the-soviet-union-19171991","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}