The History of The Cold War Period - Book Report/Review Example

The History Of The Cold War Period Table of Contents Introduction 1 “The Cold War: A Post Cold War History”: A Critical Evaluation 3 Personal View 5 Conclusion 7 Bibliography 8 Introduction Cold War is a very important event in modern history. Certain events in history cannot be traced out from archive only. A proper testimony and documentation becomes essential in such places. Cold War period originated in the year of 1945 and was the resultant of the extended conflict and political tension evolving out from the military expansion and economic antagonism in the post World War II era. In Cold War, the participants never clashed directly. The contestants expressed their rivalry through military alliances, strategic diplomacy in the field of politics and economics. The main way of showing antagonism was through the race of nuclear weapons, surveillance, proxy wars and technological competitions pertaining to space race. Therefore, it becomes quite evident that writing a historical survey on the event like Cold War involves huge education and understanding of diplomacies and military strategies. The event like Cold War doesn’t have any particular happenings that can be recorded; it requires immense derivations of intention behind a particular strategical move and its impact on world politics. Moreover, the span of this period of stress was not less .Cold War extended till the year 1991 and so, an extensive coverage of the period is also quite challenging. The book “The Cold War: A Post Cold War History” by Ralph. B Levering is updated and is a comprehensive study of the situation, analysis and diplomacies of the war blocks. Writing a book on post Cold War situation was not a piece of cake. The book is essentially helpful for the beginners in historical studies and shows Ralph’s immense knowledge of world history and political strategies. “The Cold War: A Post Cold War History”: A Critical Evaluation “The Cold War: A Post Cold War History” is a vivid description of the events revolving during those periods and captures within the strong two hundred pages which are extensively based on the records and analysis of the events happening during the era. Published by Harlan Davidson, in the year 1994 is a second edition added to the volume in American History series. The book records the analysis of the materials released form the archives of Moscow, Beijing, Hanoi and many other capitals and nations of the communist-blocs. These readings were contemporary and very helpful indeed for any learner of the world history. The Cold War ended tentatively in the year 1991 and the book was published in the year of 1994. Therefore, the events which the book encapsulates are very contemporary and most relative of the entire episode. The book helps to develop a true sense of international history. Cold War is a complex and vibrant event that lasted for a period of over forty years and helped reshaping the foreign policy and diplomatic strategies of United States and other major power blocs of the globe. This shaping and transition of diplomacies world-wide have been thoroughly discussed and analyzed in the book. This way, the direct impact of the Cold War on world politics is also thoroughly revised and researched. A very recent and important trend in world politics is also considered in this book. The intensive part played by ideology that helped to shape the policies on both the regimes is discussed in this book, is indeed a rare area covered. Dr. Levering has a complete research bent of mind which is why his contentions are worthy of acceptance. He holds an opinion that the liberal internationalism evoked by the leaders of Democrats and Republican regime during the period of World War II is actually the cause of America’s strong opposition to postwar foreign policies of Soviet Union. Dr. Levering also views that along with this America’s profound indignation towards communism and communists greatly contributed to the opposition of Soviet Union and its political and diplomatic policies. Most of the recent documents and historical works on Cold War lay emphasis on the role of Marxist and Leninist ideology, and its impact on the post war situation on Soviet Union and China along with their diplomatic relations. But, this book by Levering is complete deviation from other historical works. This book essentially records the new perspectives of the post war situation and renders new directions in scholarship which is necessary. But the main emphasis of the book centers round the chief event which was primary in the main edition too i.e. the actions taken by U.S. and the public opinions and relations between the two most powerful blocs of the world politics and the leading protagonists of the event called Cold War namely Soviet Union and United States of America. This portion also forms the main theme and the basic issue for the scholarly edition. The most unique feature of the book is that the book also focuses upon the events consequential of Cold War and hence throws light in the post war situation of the globe there by rendering a true analysis of the time frame. The book enhances and covers the two biggest wars of the post war era that are considered as the greatest threat to the humanity. The book extensively covers the large scale wars of Vietnam and Korea. The book considers and wraps the most gruesome and dangerous confrontation of the nuclear era and explicitly discusses the Cuban missile crisis which is also an important event of the world history. The author has injected and incorporated some very recent insights regarding origins of Cold War. Along with these, the extensive coverage of the “era of détente” and the “third dangerous phase” of the Cold War during the critical period of 1980-1984 is also encompassed by the learned author. Dr. Levering concludes the book with a beautiful thought provoking conclusion where he discusses and analyzes the initiating developments, starting in the year 1985 and lasting till 1991. He viewed the reason for the abrupt end of the Cold War and envisioned the degeneration and disintegration of USSR. Personal View After a thorough and a close reading of the book, “The Cold War: A Post Cold War History” seemed to be interesting that has documented fact to a great extent. But in few cases the book seems to be biased about America and its ideals. The book seems to be written only for patriots in few places and emphasizes that America can commit no wrong. The book is actually helpful for a layman and is clearly accessible. The most fascinating aspect of the book is that Dr. Levering completely frees the book from statistics that often renders historical study boring. Rather, in his own unique style and presentation, he brings forth the phases of Cold War systematically. But these historical presentations are quite interesting too. The book has a very good introduction and an ornamental insightful conclusion. The language of the book is precise and the syntax is very clear and easy. However, the book lays emphasis on the formative years of the Cold War and needs a bit more research and discussion on the later years of the war era. Conclusion Writing a document on history and more specifically recording an event which is more a war of thoughts than weapon is not an easy task. But Dr. Levering accomplishes it beautifully. The blend of facts and figure with a systematic presentation woven in a fluent lucid language is worth appreciation. Charles Neu of Brown University has rightly commented on this seminal work: “An outstanding text for beginning students, one that distills a huge amount of scholarship into a concise, readable, and stimulating narrative. It will engage students and at the same time provide them with a sweeping overview of the Cold War years” Bibliography Levering, Ralph B. The Cold War: A Post-Cold War History. Harlan Davidson, 2005. Read More