Russia, America, and the Cold War, 1949-1991 (Seminar Studies in History) [Paperback]

Martin McCauley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0582279364 | ISBN-13: 978-0582279360 | Publication Date: August 25, 1998 | Edition: 1ST

This is the successor volume to Martin McCauley's phenomenally successful The Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1949. Dr McCauley tracks US/Soviet relations through the troubled years of the Cold War.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...succinct pocket-book guide to the Cold War.'

'There are many things in this book to applaud.'

'...reflective and relevant introduction to the Cold War.'

Journal of Contemporary European Studies, December 2004

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

The conflict between Russia and America shaped the world for over four decades. Both were universalist powers ¿ they wanted every country in the world to copy their model of government and economy. They could not rest until the other side had been vanquished, and until the mid-1980¿s this included the prospect of nuclear war.

In a new edition of one of the best-selling books in the Seminar Studies in History Series, Martin McCauley looks at the epic struggle between the two superpowers that put everyone in danger. In a clear and accessible manner, the book:

• gives a succinct summary of the main turning points in the conflict
• looks at how the whole world was sucked into the conflict
• shows how the arms race eventually bankrupted Russia
• discusses whether or not America and Russia have learnt anything from this confrontation

 

Also containing a Chronology, Glossary and Who¿s Who of key figures, this second edition of Russia, America and the Cold War is essential reading for all students of twentieth century history.

Martin McCauley is an experienced, seasoned writer of many books on Russian and international affairs.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1ST edition (August 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582279364
• ISBN-13: 978-0582279360
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,768,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars terrible writing style, ok content, July 12, 2005

By 

A. Foster (Potomac, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Russia, America and the Cold War, 1949-1991 (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This book might merit two stars but certainly not more. There are a couple critical problems:

1) Writing Style - McCauley writes like a non-native English speaker and there is noticeable lack of editing. Many common expressions are slightly mis-used or missing prepositions or occaisionally whole words in phrases are missing. I find that this significantly slows down my reading because I mentally say "huh?" and re-read sentences that didn't appear to be correct the first time. McCauley also randomly lumps un-related issues together with no transitions; there will be a paragraph on Russian arms treaty negotation that trails off into a discussion of the Russian economy. Obviously the reader could infer that this might be relevant because poor economic performance incentivized Russia to reduce arms spending but it is never clear in these small instances why McCauley lumps various issues together.

2) Not a very good standalone book - This book might be ok used in conjunction with another textbook but if you aren't already familiar with Soviet government structure or many minor political figures in the USSR and client states you won't learn anything about them here.

3) Organization - this partly relates to what I said above; McCauley frequently drops mention of relatively minor political figures with no introduction. In addition, he writes with a strange mix of repeating, overlapping chronologies. He'll discuss a 10 year period of history rather thoroughly and then discuss it all over again with respect to another issue. This is difficult to avoid in this sort of work but he does it less transparently than a good author should.

4) Poor indexing job - in the age of computer indexing systems I don't really know how you can mess this up so badly - there are a number of figures mentioned in the book who do not appear in the index. This is annoying when you want to see if McCauley introduced a particular person earlier before assuming you knew about them (don't worry, he probably didn't).

Overall this book gives the impression that it was written by a smart person in about 2 days with little editing. It is not up to the standards of this series and certainly doesn't provide the depth of perspectives you would expect from a college level seminar.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, February 5, 2001

By 

Gary Malone (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russia, America, and the Cold War, 1949-1991 (Seminar Studies in History) (Paperback)

A good overview of the main events of this period: if you're just generally curious about the Cold War and what the main events and trends in it were, this is quite suitable. However, the sheer brevity of the format of this series of books (and 'Seminar Studies' is very good, believe me) works against a fully fleshed-out account of this topic. There are mentions of certain events but they lack a little background needed to explain them. I kept finding myself reading some remark and thinking 'But *why* did that happen?'. Still, a good read, and well-explained.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview, April 25, 2000

By 

Andrew J. Rork (Saddle River Day School, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Russia, America, and the Cold War, 1949-1991 (Seminar Studies in History) (Paperback)

As an AP American Hisitory teacher, I was looking for a concise book that would give my students a good overview of the Cold War. This turned out to be an excellent book, well suited for my purpose. I have my students read three books over the summer as they prepare for my class, this was one of the three. McCauley gives a concise account of the Cold War, starting with the Berlin crisis of 1948 and ending with the fall of the Soviet Union. His chronological framework to the book takes the reader through some very difficult sernerios for the United States. McCauley starts off with some background material, giving the reader eight theories about the reasons for the Cold War, some give the reader many interesting things to think about as they go through the book. McCauley then goes through the Cold War and breaks it down into five generalized time periods. This makes it easier for students that may not know much about the time period to understand the Cold War. McCauley ends the book by asking seven challanging questions for the reader to ponder. This gives the reader a chance to digest the information and helps the reader come to some interesting conclusions. The sixteen documents that McCauley provides also gives the readers of the book different ideas and causes as well as consequences of the Cold War that may have been missed in this short but excellent overview of the Cold War.