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Joseph Shattan

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Architects Of Victory: Six Heroes of the Cold War Paperback – October 15, 1999

by Joseph Shattan (Author)

4.7 5 ratings

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The Cold War was one of the most dangerous periods in American history, but it ended with one of our greatest victories: the dismantling of the Soviet Empire and discrediting of Communist ideology. Architects of Victory tells how the Cold War was won and it does so in a unique way by focusing on the lives of six great figures who were among those most responsible for Western victory: Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenauer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, and Ronald Reagan. This scholarly survey of contemporary history and celebration of human greatness provides an indispensable overview of the events and personalities that dominated the second half of the 20th Century.

To receive a free PDF of the new Architects of Victory study guide, e-mail The Heritage Foundation bookstore at bookstore@heritage.org.

Print length

342 pages
Language

English
Publisher

UNKNO
Publication date

October 15, 1999
Dimensions

9 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0891950842
ISBN-13

978-0891950844
See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Shattan served for three years during the Bush Administration as speechwriter for Vice President Dan Quayle. During the Reagan Administration, he was a speechwriter for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick, Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, and Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Elliott Abrams. He also has served on the State Department Policy Planning Staff, as Senior Advisor to the Director of the U.S. Information Agency, as an aide to Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, and as Consulting Editor of The American Spectator magazine.

Mr. Shattan has published widely in leading journals of opinion, including The American Spectator, Commentary, Policy Review, The New Republic, and The Washington Quarterly. A former Bradley Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, he holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.A., M.A.L.D., and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is currently a Director of the White House Writers Group, based in Washington, D.C.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ UNKNO (October 15, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 342 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0891950842
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0891950844
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,349,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #157,110 in Military History (Books)
- #172,958 in World History (Books)

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M. Heiss

recommended for home school history

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2016

Verified Purchase

The personalities of the cold warriors receive top-notch treatment in this set of biographies. The two best bios (in my opinion) were Konrad Adenauer and Pope John Paul II. Their lives and times were vividly portrayed. This is an excellent book covering 6 men:

Winston Churchill
Harry Truman
Konrad Adenauer
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
John Paul II
Ronald Reagan

Each mini-bio has 30-50 pages. Excellent work. Outstanding notes section and index. I recommend this

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Jack Nelson

History as it should be told

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2000

This book's objectivity is suspect due to the fact that it was published by the conservative Heritage Foundation; however, Joseph Shattan does a good job in making his case for these six men who did so much to alter the course of late 20th century history. It is remarkable that his list includes two American presidents (one Democrat, one Republican), a German chancellor, England's greatest prime minister, a pope, and a Russian writer. Such a disparate group makes this more than an essay on politics, it is a rich analysis of fifty years of world history. You can disagree with Shattan (as other reviewers have done), but you cannot deny that he has offered good reasoning for his heroic choices. It is enlightening to read about the contributions of Solzhenitsyn, Adenaur, and John Paul II, which are not well known. It is extremely satisfying to read a concise analysis of what Truman, Churchill, and Reagan brought to the mix. I believe that conservatives give Reagan too much credit for "winning" the Cold War, however I also believe that history will bear them out to a very large degree. Churchill is a giant, truly the Man of the Century (despite what TIME magazine thinks), and get his credit here. Truman obviously had a strong grasp on "the big picture" even as he grew into his role. It is interesting to apply what Shattan teaches us to the study of governments, economies, and social progress in this same time period. Joseph Shattan has done us all a favor by publishing this book; maybe efforts like this will finally begin to reduce the luster from Mikhail Gorbachev. Buy this book and read it. Then donate it to your kids' school library.

9 people found this helpful

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Gerard Balsley

Something We All Should Know

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 1999

Verified Purchase

This is a much needed corrective to the conventional wisdom of the past fifteen years, which praises Gorbachev for dismantling his own empire. It never would have happened without Reagan and his predecessors. The chapters on Konrad Adenauer and Alexander Solzhenitsyn were especially valuable because I didn't know them as well as the other four. Definitely a Christmas gift for my many brothers-in-law.

14 people found this helpful

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Steve Iaco

Six Men Who Helped Change the World

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2001

Joseph Shattan has assembled a series of short, but informative profiles of six leaders who played central roles in the Cold War. His roster of heroes includes:
-- President Truman. After initially toeing the accommodationist line of FDR, Truman soon recognized the expansionist ambitions of the Soviet Union and reacted accordingly. His Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Greece and Turkey aid package stopped the spread of Marxist hegemony in its tracks and set the contours for the four-decade struggle that was to come.
-- Winston Churchill. In and out of office, he warned early and often of the rising Bolshevik threat. But like his earlier forebodings about Hitler, his alarms fell largely on deaf ears. It was not until the 1980s that the West pursued Cold War strategies that can truly be called Churchillian -- with predictable results.
-- Konrad Adenauer. As the first Chancellor of the Republic of Germany, he planted the vital country squarely in the Western camp. West Germany was the crucible of the Cold War. Lacking a leader of Adenauer's resolve and conviction, that country could have easily fallen under the Soviet orbit, or, as Stalin designed, opted for a feckless, hollow "neutrality."
-- Solzhenitsyn. In Shattan's words, he "re-moralized the struggle" after Viet Nam and other setbacks cast doubt on the West's Containment policies. His seminal writings, especially "The Gulag Archipealgo," laid bare the repressive underpinnings of the Soviet system, while his public outrage at detente opened many eyes in the West.
-- Pope John Paul II -- The first non-Italian Pontiff in some 400 years came around at a most propitious moment. (Andropov and other Soviet paranoids contended that the Pope's selection was engineered by the U.S.) Lech Walesa credits Pope John Paul II with "saving Solidarity" -- the counter-revolutionary movement that administered the first schisms in the Soviet armor --and in inspiring his fellow Poles in their stuggle to shake off the yoke of Communist domination.
-- President Reagan. He foresaw the demise of the Soviet Union at a time when many saw history moving inexorably away from the West. Beginning in the 1970s, he called Communism a failed and failing system that would ultimately be trumped by the West -- heretic words to Western leaders who thought befriending the Soviets was the best way to change their behavior. As President, he pursued policies (Churchill's) expressly designed to exacerbate the tensions within the Soviet system. The Berlin Wall was toppled (it did not "fall"; it was pushed) less than 10 months after he left office.
Shattan's work is required reading for anyone interested in learning how the Cold War began -- and ended.

5 people found this helpful

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Mychel Vandover

An excellent book and analysis

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2000

This book is a very impressive piece of work. Shattan is very fair when he writes about each and every person, no matter what their political stripe. From Churchill's prescient knowledge of what must be done to Truman's acknowledgement of the danger that Communism posed to Adenauer's firm and unwavering alignment with the West to Solzihentisyn(sp?) showing how the Cold War was really a moral struggle to Pope John Paul II's unwavering determination to free Poland to Ronald Reagan who ultimately caused the end of the Cold War; even though it came under Bush's administration; Shattan demonstrates a keen eye for details and an excellent sense of analysis. This is well worth reading for anyone interested in the Cold War.

8 people found this helpful

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