Customer Reviews

The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book went all the way back to pre-revolutionary times and started from there. Very very detailed view of what REALLY happened. Why, Who, and Other critical points of the relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S. in the Global Arena.

I had to read this book as part of my history graduate studies. While Powaski has a notable orthodox lean to the Cold War spin, towards the end, he notes "post-revisionistly" that both Russia and U.S. have to take blame. Not an easy read and with little if any original research (no Russian primary sources), but quite informative as a narrative of Cold War history...would have liked more information on the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5, which sort of started all the ill feelings in the first place.

this book, while not involved with alot of individual detail, is a great summary of important events throughout the cold war. i personally use it all of the time for quick referencing. i recommend it to anyone interested in the cold war.

On a positive note, Powaski correctly (I think) dates the start of the Cold War from the Russian Revolution, not 1945, and implies that the US/USSR clash was inevitable from a geopolitical standpoint. However, considering that the book was published in 1999, four years after the Venona trasncripts were declassified, the author lamely succumbs to the politically correct view that the "Red Scare" in the US of the 1950s clouded American decision-making. We now know that McCarthy, for all his bluntness, erred on the low side in talking about Soviet/communist penetration of the Roosevelt/Truman administrations. For example, he cites the removal of two State Department officers for daring to question American support for Chiang Kai Shek and suggesting a more "realistic" China policy. He fails to mention that US China policy was directed during the 1940s by a cabal of (now) proven KGB agents, at least one of whom later defected to Communist China, and that the Truman administration, to protect itself politically, sheltered them and then conducted the only witch-hunt of the 1950s, that directed against McCarthy and anyone who provided him with information. It's past time that historians stopped concealing evidence.