For over forty years much of the world was held captive by a conflict between two wholly incompatible economic ideologies–capitalism and communism–and the two primary superpower countries who practiced them, the United States and the Soviet Union. Written in accessible language for readers with little or no previous knowledge about the subject, this work is first a general history of the Cold War, with an overview of its root causes and the policies and theories that were in place from 1947 through 1990. A thoroughly annotated chronology of important Cold War events follows. Short biographies of some of the major United States political figures and world leaders conclude the work.

Richard Alan Schwartz is a professor at Florida International University in Miami.

Richard Alan Schwartz

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 327
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2006 [1997]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2608-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1078-8
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1
Abbreviations      5

SECTION I: A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR
1. Overview      9
2. The Pre-Cold War (1945–47)      13
3. Containment (1947–54)      16
4. Massive Retaliation, Second Strike, and Flexible Response (1954–69)      20
5. Mutually Assured Destruction and Détente (1969–79)      27
6. Winnable Nuclear War, the Evil Empire, and the Collapse of Communism (1980–90)      32
7. The Aftermath of the Cold War      37

SECTION II: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COLD WAR
8. The Bomb      41
9. McCarthyism and the Red Scare      43
10. The Korean War      49
11. The Second Berlin Crisis      51
12. The Cuban Missile Crisis      53
13. The Vietnam War and Protest      57
14. Covert Operations: The CIA and the FBI      65

SECTION III: CHRONOLOGIES
An Annotated Chronology of Important Cold War Events      79
A Chronology of Superpower and Allied Leadership      126
U.S. Presidential Administrations and Soviet Leadership      129
Leaders of the Western Allies      131
Leaders of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China      133

SECTION IV: PROMINENT COLD WAR FIGURES
Biographies of U.S. Political Figures      137
Biographies of Superpower Leaders      248

Selected Bibliography      299
Index      309

• Choice Outstanding Academic Title
• “A useful compendium”—Library Journal
• “Informative…a concise and clearly written narrative of the issues that fueled the Cold War and that brought about its end…. Recommended for public, college, university, and private reference collections”—ARBA
• “Thorough…detailed…clearly written”—School Library Journal
• “Comprehensive and accurate background information”—Reference & User Services Quarterly