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“Contains unsettling insights into some of the most dangerous geopolitical crises of the time.”—The Economist This acclaimed study from the authors of “One Hell of a Gamble” brings to life head-to-head confrontations between the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. Drawing on their unrivaled access to Politburo and KGB materials, Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali combine new insights into the Cuban missile crisis as well as startling narratives of the contests for Suez, Iraq, Berlin, and Southeast Asia, with vivid portraits of leaders who challenged Moscow and Washington. Khrushchev’s Cold War provides a gripping history of the crisis years of the Cold War.
Based on classified Soviet archives, including the files of Nikita Khrushchev and the KGB, "One Hell of a Gamble" offers a riveting play-by-play history of the Cuban missile crisis from American and Soviet perspectives simultaneously. No other book offers this inside look at the strategies of the Soviet leadership. John F. Kennedy did not live to write his memoirs; Fidel Castro will not reveal what he knows; and the records of the Soviet Union have long been sealed from public view: Of the most frightening episode of the Cold War--the Cuban Missile Crisis--we have had an incomplete picture. When did Castro embrace the Soviet Union? What proposals were put before the Kremlin through Kennedy's...
With new information from Russian archives, this work examines the historical roots of Gorbachev's perestroika and the reforms that would eventually lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The controversies among Soviet leaders from Lenin to Gorbachev over party role, economic management, resource allocation, ethnic policies, legality and foreign relations are discussed. An appendix "reads between the lines" in historic Soviet texts, and a helpful list of Soviet leaders, with brief identifications, is included. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
This book investigates the phenomenon of the political coexistence of the United States with Cuba that developed between the beginning of the John F. Kennedy administration and the Cold War détente of the mid-1970s. It is revealed that due to the US global commitments, related to the Cold War and the risk of confrontation with the Soviet Union, the political approach of Washington to the Fidel Castro’s Cuba constituted a perpetuated condition of suspense between war and peace. Despite the failure of both the US hostile policies and diplomatic dialogue with Castro, the mutual tension remained under control of recurrent crisis management course. Ultimately, the US attempts to discipline and...
This authoritative volume analyzes the state of Russia's power transfer crises throughout time, taking aim at Russia's unpredictable leadership changes and the consequent crises that result from the absence of a mechanism for legitimate succession. Leading scholars analyze this problem from the power struggles in the Kremlin immediately following Stalin's death to the rise of Putin. Shedding new light on Russia's systemic flaws and resulting instability, this work is essential for practitioners and students of policy, especially as the country reemerges as an international power with a leader who shows disconcerting tendencies to revert to authoritarian and imperial habits.
A concise, briskly-written account of the Cold War, drawing on the latest archival evidence and scholarly research. It includes a discussion of Cold War historiography and in the introductory section frames the main account by examining some of the subject's primary documents.
“The best and the most accessible one-volume history of communism now available . . . A far-reaching, vividly written account.” —Foreign Affairs In The Red Flag, Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across two hundred years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in nineteenth-century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the twentieth century. Beginning with the first modern Communists in the age of Robespierre, Priestland examines the motives of thinkers and leaders including Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Castro, Che Guevara, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Gorbachev, and m...
From the Soviet perspective, Eastern Europe was the near abroad – more accessible than the capitalist West, yet also unambiguously foreign. Observing their western neighbours, citizens of the USSR developed new ideas about the role of states, borders, and national identities in the Soviet empire. In The Near Abroad, Zbigniew Wojnowski traces how Soviet Ukrainian identities developed in dialogue and confrontation with the USSR’s neighbours in Eastern Europe. The author aptly challenges the dominant chronologies of late Soviet history by arguing that patriotism framed heated debates about the future of the Soviet state even amongst the rising tide of cynicism and disengagement from public life. Wojnowski’s insightful analysis illuminates the mental geographies that continue to shape relations and conflicts between Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe to this very day. Unlike most other histories of Ukraine, The Near Abroad does not reduce Ukrainian nationalism to anti-Soviet views and behaviours.
This lucid account of military developments around the modern world begins with the American War of Independence and the French revolutionary wars and continues chronologically to the latest 21st century conflicts. It combines determinedly global coverage with thought-provoking analysis not only of the military aspects of conflict but also its social, cultural, political and economic dimensions and consequences. By placing familiar events alongside the largely unknown, the reader is forced to reassess the standard grand narrative of military history that rests on assumptions of Western cultural and technological superiority. It will be essential reading for students worldwide, whether studying modern military history, modern world history, history and international relations or war and society. This fully updated second edition includes: chapter introductions and conclusions to assist study and revision 'Voices of War' sourced extracts from the field of conflict case studies in each chapter to support the narrative and provoke discussion a 12-page colour map section and over 20 other integrated maps annotated references from the latest publications in the field
The KGB, Russian Academic Imperialism, Ukraine, and Western Academia, 1946-2024 is a study of Soviet and Russian intelligence operations against the centers for Soviet studies in North American academia. Using recently opened archival KGB and US intelligence documents, memoirs, and personal interviews with former KGB officers in post-Soviet Ukraine, this book analyzes the Soviet strategy of "using their enemies" for promoting their own political interests, especially directed at the problems of Ukrainian nationalism and independence. This volume investigates KGB operations establishing a foothold within the American Slavic studies community during the Cold War. The KGB, and their current successors the Russian FSB, use Russian emigrants and academics to promote pro-Kremlin and pro-Putin myths within North American research institutes. Special attention is paid to the historical roots of contemporary Russian intelligence operations targeting American-Russian academics and promoting Russian state interests in the ongoing war against Ukraine.