The Fifty-Year Wound How America's Cold War Victory Shapes Our World

by Leebaert, Derek

• ISBN13: 9780316164962
• ISBN10: 0316164968
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-13
• Publisher: Back Bay Books

Summary

America won the cold war, what Derek Leebaert calls a "muffled worldwar" in The Fifty-Year Wound, but the cost of victory--psychically,morally, and financially--was beyond frightful. The Soviet Union collapsedpeacefully; civilization survived "more or less" intact; the world was"liberalized," and the cold war period was the longest "great power" peace sinceRome fell. But a half-century "pattern of alarm" and the "industry of nationalsecurity" curbed freedoms, diverted talent into "fundamentally unproductive"fields, postponed research, "trammeled" investment, and caused a national "wasteof spirit." As well, Leebaert suggests the Cuban missiles were primarilypsychological threats; American involvement in Vietnam led to OPEC's economicmuscle; Kennedy was perhaps the most hawkish of post-WWII presidents, and thatthe events of September 11 were a direct cold war legacy. This massive,comprehensive, and stern but guardedly optimistic overview will reward thedetermined reader with its insights and hundreds of telling, sometimes shocking,details. --H. O'Billovitch

Author Biography

Derek Leebaert teaches government at Georgetown University. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University and is a founding editor of the journal International Security. He lives in Washington, D.C., and frequently consults for agencies of the U.S. government

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
1945: At the Top of the Wave	3	(18)
Part I
Back to the Future (1946--1950)	21	(63)
Getting the Habit (1950--1953)	84	(56)
Nothing So Simple (1953--1956)	140	(55)
Settling In for the Long Haul (1956--1961)	195	(60)
Part II
The Burden and the Glory (1961--1963)	255	(64)
The Burden Felt (1964--1969)	319	(58)
Blight on the Battlefield (1969--1975)	377	(67)
In the Hollow of the Wave (1975--1981)	444	(47)
Part III
Hard Pounding (1981--1985)	491	(47)
Shaking Loose (1985--1989)	538	(52)
Unintended Consequences (1989-- )	590	(47)
Conclusion	637	(10)
Acknowledgments	647	(2)
Notes	649	(58)
Bibliography	707	(18)
Index	725