The World of the Cold War

Why are there so few gripping histories of the Cold War? Many standard accounts are sensationally boring. This book is much better: brisk, spiky and unafraid to make provocative judgements... Zubok makes you think -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Thorough and timely... Drawing on years of research, and informed by three decades in the USSR followed by three decades in the West, Zubok paints a striking new portrait of a world on the brink * Spectator * Compelling and timely * Observer * Monumental and still highly readable... by smartly knitting together the past with the present, Zubok’s book brings a prescient and fresh perspective * Financial Times * Short, readable... Zubok’s new narrative is a welcome corrective to Gaddis’ triumphalist, US-centred history... A helpful primer for those seeking to understand the past that made our present * History Today * Immensely scholarly, and its sweep is considerable... Zubok has complete command of his narrative, based on a deep knowledge of his subject * Telegraph * Always sensible... Makes comprehensible a Russian perspective on a key question of 20th-century history that we generally see only from the American side -- Sheila Fitzpatrick * London Review of Books * A masterful study, which should be read by everyone interested in contemporary international history -- Odd Arne Westad This provocative, comprehensive, and insightful analysis not only incorporates the latest scholarship but is also remarkably lucid and accessible. Students will be enlightened; experts will be challenged to reassess their thinking. This volume is a major contribution -- Melvyn P. Leffler Vladislav Zubok’s accomplishments eminently qualify him to write this epic and exciting reconsideration of Cold War history. Along with new information from Soviet archives is a compelling interpretation of how capitalism itself, not just geopolitics, was changed by the Cold War - with consequential ramifications for our time -- Samuel Moyn