The Long Peace Inquiries Into the History of the Cold War

by Gaddis, John Lewis

• ISBN13: 9780195043358
• ISBN10: 0195043359
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1989-02-02
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this fascinating new interpretation of Cold War history, John Lewis Gaddis focuses on how the United States and the Soviet Union have managed to get through more than four decades of Cold War confrontation without going to war with one another. Using recently-declassified American and British documents, Gaddis argues that the postwar international system has contained previously unsuspected elements of stability. This provocative reassessment of contemporary history--particularly as it relates to the current status of Soviet-American relations--will certainly generate discussion, controversy, and important new perspectives on both past and present aspects of the age in which we live.

Author Biography

John Lewis Gaddis, Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio University, is the author of The United States and the Origins of the Cold War and Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy.

Table of Contents

The Long Peace	p. i
Preface	p. vii
Legacies: Russian-American Relations before the Cold War	p. 3
The Insecurities of Victory: the United States and the Perception of the Soviet Threat after World War II	p. 20
Spheres of Influences: the United States and Europe, 1945-1949	p. 48
Drawing Lines: the Defensive Perimeter Strategy in East Asia, 1947-1951	p. 72
The Origins of Self-Deterrence: the United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1945-1958	p. 104
Dividing Adversaries: the United States and International Communism, 1945-1958	p. 147
Learning to Live with Transparency: the Emergence of a Reconnaissance Satellite Regime	p. 195
The Long Peace: Elements of Stability in the Postwar International System	p. 215
Notes	p. 247
Bibliography	p. 303
Index	p. 321
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