From the Cold War to a New Era : The United States and the Soviet Union, 1983-1991

by Oberdorfer, Don

• ISBN13: 9780801859229
• ISBN10: 0801859220
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-05-01
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

An updated edition of Don Oberdorfer's acclaimed book, The Turn "The most thorough account yet of what we can all agree was a crucial era in world politics."--Michael R. Beschloss, New York Times Book Review "A highly readable and utterly persuasive account of why the Cold War came to end the way it did."--Fred Barnes, American Spectator First published in 1991 as The Turn, this is the gripping narrative history of the most important international development of our time--the passage of the United States and the Soviet Union from the Cold War to a new era. Don Oberdorfer makes the reader a privileged behind-the-scenes spectator as U.S. and Soviet leaders take each other's measure and slowly set about their historic task. Oberdorfer writes diplomatic history with a vital difference: extraordinary intimacy made possible by comprehensive interviews with major figures on both sides and exclusive material from a host of other sources. Now this widely praised book is available in a new, updated paperback edition that continues the narrative up to the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union. Replete with revealing portraits of historical personalities, as riveting as a spy thriller, this is an enthralling record of history in the making. "Don Oberdorfer has dealt skillfully with an unusually complex period in contemporary history. His observations on 'the turn' in U.S.-Soviet relations provide an important and timely review of developments in the transformation from the Cold War."--Henry Kissinger "The best account yet of how this astonishing transformation came about. Oberdorfer himself covered most of the important events along the way, and hence has been able to draw on his own direct impressions of what took place... An exciting and, in many ways, a strikingly encouraging historical narrative."--John Lewis Gaddis, Washington Post Book World "Oberdorfer is master of the extended journalistic inquiry into events behind major news stories, a talent he turns to the careful reconstruction of developments between and within leaderships during these remarkable years." -- Foreign Affairs

Author Biography

Don Oberdorfer was a diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Post from 1976 until his retirement in 1993.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Johns Hopkins Edition	p. 9
A Candle in the Cold	p. 15
The EBB Tide	p. 49
The Chernenko Interlude	p. 79
Gorbachev Takes Command	p. 107
High Stakes at Reykjavik	p. 155
To the Washington Summit	p. 211
Reagan in Red Square	p. 273
The Revolution of 1989	p. 327
A New Era	p. 387
The End of the Soviet Union	p. 431
Afterword	p. 477
Acknowledgments	p. 483
Notes and Sources	p. 487
Index	p. 519
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