America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-2006 [Paperback]

Walter LaFeber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0073534668 | ISBN-13: 978-0073534664 | Publication Date: November 20, 2006 | Edition: 10

Using extensive materials from both published and private sources, this concise text focuses on United States-Soviet diplomacy to explain the causes and consequences of the Cold War. It explores how the Cold War was shaped by domestic events in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union and presents a variety of other points of view on the conflict--Chinese, Latin American, European, and Vietnamese. The text includes both engaging anecdotes and quotes from primary sources to support key points and exemplify policies, and recent scholarship and materials from openings of the U.S., Soviet, and Chinese archives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Lafeber was born and raised in Indiana, attended Hanover College, and then received his Master of Arts degree from Stanford University and his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His books include The American Age: U.S. Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad Since 1750 (2nd ed., 1994); Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America (2nd ed., 1993); The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective (2nd ed., 1989); and The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1865-1898 (1963). He also wrote The American Search for Opportunity, Volume II of the Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations (1994). Since 1968, Professor Lafeber has been the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of American History at Cornell University, and in 1994, he was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 10 edition (November 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0073534668
• ISBN-13: 978-0073534664
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent survey book, November 18, 2008

By 

Heather (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-2006 (Paperback)

I had to buy this book for a Cold War class during my masters program. It is a fairly thin book considering all that went on the Cold War but this is just meant to be a light survey of the Cold War years. To tell of the major events to people who may not be familiar with them. I did not think of it as having a very liberal bent to it like the previous reviewer. It is a little more liberal than other books out there but that is bound to happen. Just as there are more conservative leaning books written about the cold war. I recommend this book for anyone who is taking a class on the Cold War and needs some background information on it. It is easy to read and get through and tells of the major points in the Cold War between Russia and America.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced and Insightful, April 5, 2009

By 

David L. Bush (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-2006 (Paperback)

Overall a very efficient, analytic and even-handed overview of the Cold War's issues and origins. The anti-American bias perceived by other reviewers wasn't evident to me, particularly as the author takes a widely holistic approach to his subject. Political, economic, cultural and historical factors are considered, as are the personal predilections of key policy-makers on both sides. Motives and decisions are laid out within the qualitative context of their time, while consequences are relevantly tied to ours.

If LaFeber has an agenda, it's to implicitly demonstrate that rational and productive foreign policy can not come from a place of pride, fear and cynicism. In this he lets the records of Washington and Moscow speak for themselves, neither excusing nor apologizing for anyone.

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious but readable long-term expert avoids fashions of the moment, March 16, 2010

By 

Thomas J. "Thom" (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-2006 (Paperback)

LaFebre first wrote this book in 1967, covering just 1945-46---the origins of the Cold War. In the next edition he expanded it to what is is today---a full length history up to the present time. It remains what it always has been -- a balanced, judicious account, full of the missed opportunities, misunderstandings, and occasional wrong choices on both sides. But this is no excuse or apologia for Soviet Communism by any means. It is true that it avoids the triumphalist "WE WON" tone is some recent revisionist books on the subject which sweep all doubt and misgivings, as well as missteps, that were the usual approach in honestly recounting Cold War before the end of Communism, when the threat of nuclear war was real and heavy. The ultimate fall of Communism was a very long time coming and indeed in the late 40s and early 50s, many experts felt that even if they needed to be resisted, there were so many problems inside their system, and the American system so much healthier (and richer) that it would crumble later, if not sooner, which it did of course. For those seeking a fair, calm history that sees all of this clearly and does not take a "they-lost-because-we-got-tough" outlook (which is a bit reductive, if not plain wrong), this admirable, scholarly book in its most recent of many editions (2002) fills the bill.