Understanding the Cold War: A Historian's Personal Reflections [Paperback]

Adam Bruno Ulam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0967996007 | ISBN-13: 978-0967996004

The book contains engaging stories of Prof. Ulam's personal life which are interspersed with his reflections on the dominant events of the 20th Century,notably the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.The book proceeds from his dramatic departure at 16 from Lwow,Poland,only 6 days before Hitler's invasion, to his long tenure as one of the leading voices at Harvard.In recounting his life and summarizing the main themes of his 18 books,Ulam leaves a legacy, at once intensely personal and historically illuminating.He knew everyone from John Kenneth Galbraith,Alfred North Whitehead,and Edward Teller, to Pierre Trudeau and Andreas Papandreou. More intimate stories feature family members like his older brother Stanislaw, the famous Manhattan-project mathematician, who accompanied the teen-aged Adam in his flight to America and to whom the book is dedicated.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Noted Harvard historian, Adam B.Ulam was born in Lwow, Poland, in 1922. He and his brother, who became one of the world's leading mathematicians, were on the last boat to leave Poland before the outbreak of WWII. He was 16 years old. His brother entered him at Brown University for his undergraduate education. He obtained his Ph.D at Harvard, in 1947 and joined the faculty in 1947 where he remained until his retirement in 1992. He trained thousands of undergraduates and graduate students who went on to leading posts in academia, government, business, and the media. His students included Henry Kissinger and Robert F. Kennedy. He was affiliated with Harvard's Russian Research Center, serving as it's director for 15 years. During his tenure, the Center become one of the world's leading institutions for the study of the Soviet Union. He wrote 19 books, many of them still classics in the field. The Bolsheviks, published in 1965, is still regarded as one of the definitive treatments of the party led by Vladimir Lenin. It was hailed by reviewers as "an intellectual biography of the highest sort," a "stunningly insightful look at this key period," and a "masterful study of the Communists'rise to power. One reviewer commented: "We used to be told it was worth learning Italian to read Dante. Here is a new one: it is worth developing an interest in Lenin to read Adam Ulam."

In 1964, Professor Ulam married Mary Hamilton Burgwin. They had two sons, Alexander Stanislaw and Joseph Howard. Divorced in 1992, the couple later reconciled, and were together at Prof. Ulam's death in March of this year.

Product Details

• Paperback: 327 pages
• Publisher: Leopolis Pr (November 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967996007
• ISBN-13: 978-0967996004
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,086,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Prof. Ulam was a pivotal figure, December 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Understanding the Cold War: A Historian's Personal Reflections (Paperback)

Prof. Ulam's recent death need not deter anyone from finding this book a welcome salve to the usual academic tomes that even he sometimes produced during his many years as a father of Sovietology. His studennts and colleagues knew him as a real "mensch" and this book shows those who didn't get to know him how a powerful set of personal experiences, both before and during the Cold War, made it possible for Adam to create a unique body of knowledge which was truly innovative.

Those who were not terrible cognizant of the sometimes stark and sometimes ambigious realities of the Cold War will find this an engaging read.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read, January 24, 2001

By 

Misha (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding the Cold War: A Historian's Personal Reflections (Paperback)

I have never read any of Professor Ulam's other works (I believe the tally ended at 18, with this book, after Ulam's death). I had been told by several friends and colleagues that his were, if nothing else, a brilliant marriage of the scholarly and the approachable. The latter is more the case here, wherein Ulam provides his life story, with the tumultuous changes in Europe (both East AND West) as the backdrop.

More than just a series of anecdotes strung together with a calendar, Ulam presents us with gripping and often moving tales from his past - including, most notably (to me), his departure from Poland at the age of 16, just six days before Hitler's invasion.

This is a book I'll proudly display on my shelf; it's certainly not one I would have run out and bought the second it hit the shelves, but it was, like a roller-coaster ride through the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, a breathtaking journey, and one I'll revisit again and again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Embracing the microcosmic as well as the world-spanning, August 11, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding the Cold War: A Historian's Personal Reflections (Paperback)

Written by Adam B. Ulam (1922-2000) an erudite professor emeritus of Harvard University, Understanding The Cold War: A Historian's Personal Reflections, is both an engaging, informative examination of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and a an intimate, candid confession of how the world-changing effects of the Cold War personally affected his family. Vividly written and tracing a personal legacy in the post World War II world, Understanding The Cold War offers the reader a different perspective on history, embracing the microcosmic as well as the world-spanning shape of events.