Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


The Cambridge History of the Cold War 3 Volume Set

The Cambridge History of the Cold War 3 Volume Set

The Cambridge History of the Cold War 3 Volume Set

Melvyn P. Leffler, University of Virginia
Odd Arne Westad, London School of Economics and Political Science
April 2010
Multiple copy pack
9780521839389
Replaced by:

9781107602328

    The Cambridge History of the Cold War is a comprehensive, international history of the conflict that dominated world politics in the twentieth century. The three-volume series, written by leading international experts in the field, elucidates how the Cold War evolved from the geopolitical, ideological, economic and socio-political environment of the two World Wars and the interwar era, and explains the global dynamics of the Cold War international system. It emphasises how the Cold War bequeathed conditions, challenges and conflicts that shape international affairs today. With discussions of demography and consumption, women and youth, science and technology, ethnicity and race, the volumes encompass the social, intellectual and economic history of the twentieth century, shedding new light on the evolution of the Cold War. Through its various geographical and national angles, the series signifies a transformation of the field from a national – primarily American – to a broader international approach.

    • A three-volume global history of the Cold War
    • Emphasises social, intellectual, economic and geostrategic trends as well as focusing on personalities, politics and human agency
    • Contributions by leading Cold War scholars from around the world

    Reviews & endorsements

    "[There is] an admirable comprehensiveness in The Cambridge History... The editors have gathered the top scholars on each topic, and many do not disappoint, even if only by offering succinct reprises of their own books." -Lawrence D. Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, Foreign Affairs (March/April 2010)

    "There has never been a Cold War history like it; everything about it is monumental….  In total, the volumes represent a successful interconnected attempt at describing the Cold War in full." -H-Soz-u-Kult

    "The articles are excellent works of scholarship, making both definitive and innovative contributions to the international history of the Cold War....An indispensable addition to any college or university library."
    --Choice

    "The Cambridge History of the Cold War (CHCW) marks a coming of age for Cold War studies. This multi-volume compilation provides a synthesis of the 'New Cold War History'. It is a signal moment in the evolution of the field." Miek Sewell, H-Diplo

    'We have a waited a long time for a standard and usable reference on the Cold War that provides a solid foundation for the beginning student or general reader, while offering avenues for further research for the more advanced scholar. And now - and for some time to come - we have it.:" H-Diplo, Tom Nichols

    "an important investment in the field of Cold War studies which offers – after 20 years – a comprehensive overview of the era that influenced so many people’s life in so many different ways." -Sari Autio-Sarasmo, European History Quarterly

    "The three-volume set is a landmark achievement, and will be indispensible for historians of the period for many years to come." -Paul Betts, German History

    See more reviews

    Product details

    April 2010
    Multiple copy pack
    9780521839389
    1976 pages
    235 × 157 × 106 mm
    3.63kg
    Replaced by 9781107602328

    Table of Contents

    • Volume 1:
    • 1. The Cold War and the international history of the twentieth century
    • 2. Ideology and the origins of the Cold War, 1917–1962
    • 3. The world economy and the Cold War in the mid-twentieth century
    • 4. The emergence of an American grand strategy, 1945–1952
    • 5. The Soviet Union and the world, 1944–1953
    • 6. Britain and the Cold War
    • 7. The division of Germany (1945–1949)
    • 8. The Marshall Plan and the creation of the west
    • 9. The Sovietization of eastern Europe, 1944–1953
    • 10. The Cold War in the Balkans: from the Greek Civil War to Soviet-Yugoslav normalization
    • 11. The birth of the People's Republic of China and the road to the Korean War
    • 12. Japan, the United States, and the Cold War, 1945–1960
    • 13. The Korean War
    • 14. US national security policy from Eisenhower to Kennedy
    • 15. Soviet foreign policy, 1953–1962
    • 16. East-Central Europe from Stalin's death to the aftermath of the 1956 revolts
    • 17. The Sino-Soviet Alliance and the Cold War in Asia, 1954–1962
    • 18. Nuclear weapons and the escalation of the Cold War, 1945–1962
    • 19. Culture and the Cold War in Europe
    • 20. Cold War mobilization and domestic politics: the United States
    • 21. Cold War mobilisation and domestic politics: the Soviet Union, 1945–1962
    • 22. Decolonization, the global south, and the Cold War, 1919–1962
    • 23. Oil, resources, and the Cold War, 1945–1962. Volume 2:
    • 1. Grand strategies in the Cold War
    • 2. Identity and the Cold War
    • 3. Economic aspects of the Cold War, 1962–1975
    • 4. The Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 5. Nuclear competition in an era of stalemate, 1963–1975
    • 6. US foreign policy from Kennedy to Johnson
    • 7. Soviet foreign policy, 1962–1975
    • 8. France, 'Gaulism', and the Cold War
    • 9. European integration and the Cold War
    • 10. Détente in Europe, 1962–1975
    • 11. Eastern Europe: Stalinism to solidarity
    • 12. Cold War and the transformation of the Mediterranean, 1960–1975
    • 13. The Cold War in the Third World, 1963–1975
    • 14. The Indochina Wars and the Cold War, 1945–1975
    • 15. The Cold War in the Middle East from the Suez Crisis to the Camp David Accords
    • 16. Cuba and the Cold War, 1959–1980
    • 17. The Sino-Soviet split
    • 18. Détente in the Nixon-Ford years, 1969–1976
    • 19. Nuclear proliferation and non-proliferation during the Cold War
    • 20. Intelligence in the Cold War
    • 21. Reading, viewing and tuning-in to the Cold War
    • 22. Counter-cultures: the rebellions against the Cold War order, 1965–1975
    • 23. The structure of great power politics, 1963–1975
    • 24. The Cold War and the social and economic history of the twentieth century. Volume 3:
    • 1. The Cold War and the intellectual history of the late twentieth century
    • 2. The world economy and the Cold War, 1970–1990
    • 3. The rise and fall of Eurocommunism
    • 4. The Cold War and Jimmy Carter
    • 5. Soviet foreign policy from Détente to Gorbachev, 1975–1985
    • 6. Islamism, the Iranian Revolution, and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
    • 7. The collapse of superpower détente, 1975–1980
    • 8. Japan and the Cold War from 1960 to 1991
    • 9. China and the Cold War after Mao
    • 10. The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991
    • 11. The Cold War and Southern Africa, 1976–1990
    • 12. The Gorbachev revolution and the end of the Cold War
    • 13. US foreign policy from Reagan to Bush
    • 14. Western Europe and the end of the Cold War, 1979–1989
    • 15. The East European revolutions of 1989
    • 16. The unification of Germany, 1985–1991
    • 17. The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1990–1991
    • 18. Science, technology and the Cold War
    • 19. Transnational organizations and the Cold War
    • 20. The Biosphere and the Cold War
    • 21. The Cold War and human rights
    • 22. The Cold War in the longue durée: global migration, public health, and population control
    • 23. Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War
    • 24. An 'incredibly swift transition': reflections on the end of the Cold War
    • 25. The restructuring of the international system after the Cold War.
      Contributors
    • Odd Arne Westad, David C. Engerman, Charles S. Maier, Melvyn P. Leffler, Vladimir O. Pechatnov, Anne Deighton, Hans-Peter Schwarz, William I. Hitchcock, Norman Naimark, Svetozar Rajak, Niu Jun, Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu, William Stueck, Robert J. McMahon, Vojtech Mastny, Csaba Békés, Shu Guang Zhang, David Holloway, Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht, Laura McEnaney, David Priestland, Mark Philip Bradley, David S. Painter, John Lewis Gaddis, Robert Jervis, Richard N. Cooper, James G. Hershberg, William Burr, David Alan Rosenberg, Frank Costigliola, William Taubman, Svetlana Savranskaya, Frédéric Bozo, N. Piers Ludlow, Jussi M. Hanhimäki, Anthony Kemp-Welch, Ennio Di Nolfo, Michael E. Latham, Fredrik Logevall, Douglas Little, Piero Gleijeses, Sergey Radchenko, Robert D. Schulzinger, Francis J. Gavin, Christopher Andrew, Nicholas J. Cull, Jeremi Suri, Marc Trachtenberg, Wilfried Loth, Jan-Werner Müller, Giovanni Arrighi, Silvio Pons, Nancy Mitchell, Vladislav M. Zubok, Amin Saikal, Olav Njølstad, Chen Jian, Michael Schaller, John H. Coatsworth, Chris Saunders, Sue Onslow, Archie Brown, Beth A. Fischer, John W. Young, Jacques Lévesque, Helga Haftendorn, Alex Pravda, David Reynolds, Matthew Evangelista, J. R. McNeill, Rosemary Foot, Matthew Connelly, Emily S. Rosenberg, Adam Roberts, G. John Ikenberry

    • Editors
    • Melvyn P. Leffler , University of Virginia
    • Odd Arne Westad , London School of Economics and Political Science