Myths of the Cold War

Myths of the Cold War PDF Author: Albert L. Weeks
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739189700
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Myths of the Cold War: Amending Historiographic Distortions provides a corrective for the distortions and omissions of many previous domestic and foreign (including Russian) studies of the Cold War, especially those published since 2000. The “present interest” motivation in Weeks's analysis is gaining a clear understanding of the bi-polar, $4 trillion, nuclear-war-threatening standoff that lasted over 40 years after World War II until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Without such knowledge and understanding of this dangerous conflict, any future encounter of the cold-war type with another nation-state is liable to be construed in confusing ways just as the U.S.-Soviet Cold War was. The consequence of such misunderstanding in the historiographic sense as well as in policy-making at the highest level is that the populations of the contending powers will have distorted conceptions of the reasons for the confrontation. The result of this, in turn, is skewed tendentiousness that masks concrete, underlying causes of intense inter-state contention. Practical benefits thus flow from an unprejudiced analysis of the past Cold War with Communist Russia. This understanding can help prevent a future conflict, such as one with Communist China, which some reputed sinologists are currently predicting, as well as one with post-Soviet Russia. Conversely, if a new cold war is imposed on the West, a clearer understanding of the post-World War II archetypical Cold War will be edifying.

Myths of the Cold War

Myths of the Cold War PDF Author: Albert L. Weeks
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739189700
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Get Book Here

Book Description
Myths of the Cold War: Amending Historiographic Distortions provides a corrective for the distortions and omissions of many previous domestic and foreign (including Russian) studies of the Cold War, especially those published since 2000. The “present interest” motivation in Weeks's analysis is gaining a clear understanding of the bi-polar, $4 trillion, nuclear-war-threatening standoff that lasted over 40 years after World War II until the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Without such knowledge and understanding of this dangerous conflict, any future encounter of the cold-war type with another nation-state is liable to be construed in confusing ways just as the U.S.-Soviet Cold War was. The consequence of such misunderstanding in the historiographic sense as well as in policy-making at the highest level is that the populations of the contending powers will have distorted conceptions of the reasons for the confrontation. The result of this, in turn, is skewed tendentiousness that masks concrete, underlying causes of intense inter-state contention. Practical benefits thus flow from an unprejudiced analysis of the past Cold War with Communist Russia. This understanding can help prevent a future conflict, such as one with Communist China, which some reputed sinologists are currently predicting, as well as one with post-Soviet Russia. Conversely, if a new cold war is imposed on the West, a clearer understanding of the post-World War II archetypical Cold War will be edifying.

The Myths of August

The Myths of August PDF Author: Stewart L. Udall
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813525464
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
"Stewart L. Udall chronicles the devastating facts of America's nuclear past--from the atomic bombings in Japan to government actions that jeopardized the lives of uranium miners and "downwinders."--Back cover.

Myths of the Cold War

Myths of the Cold War PDF Author: Albert Loren Weeks
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780739189696
Category : Cold War
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this book, Albert L. Weeks provides a lucid analysis of the Cold War as he dispels the myths that have made their way into contemporary historiography on the topic, while using the conflict as a lens through which to view contemporary crises, such as Russia's recent intervention in Ukraine.

Superpower Illusions

Superpower Illusions PDF Author: Jack F. Matlock
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300155964
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
“This persuasive, occasionally provocative book corrects a number of pervasive myths about the Cold War”—from the former U.S. ambassador to the USSR (Publishers Weekly). In Superpower Illusions, Jack F. Matlock refutes the enduring idea that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union by applying military and economic pressure—with wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy. Matlock argues that Gorbachev, not Reagan, undermined Communist Party rule in the Soviet Union and that the Cold War ended in a negotiated settlement that benefited both sides. He posits that the end of the Cold War diminished rather than enhanced American power; with the removal of the Soviet threat, allies were less willing to accept American protection and leadership that seemed increasingly to ignore their interests. Matlock shows how, during the Clinton and particularly the Bush-Cheney administrations, the belief that the United States had defeated the Soviet Union led to a conviction that it did not need allies, international organizations, or diplomacy, but could dominate and change the world by using its military power unilaterally. Superpower Illusions is “a truly remarkable book, both wise and provocative, telling a sad yet instructive story of how the United States failed to exploit a triumph in the Cold War to build a new international order reflecting U.S. interests and principles” (Dimitri Simes, President and CEO, The Center for the National Interest). “A well written, clearly reasoned and thoroughly informed tour of the past half century of American diplomacy—including the roots of its successes and failures—led by a superbly qualified participant. A brilliant book.”—Sidney Drell, Stanford University

Myths, Models, and U.S. Foreign Policy

Myths, Models, and U.S. Foreign Policy PDF Author: Stephen W. Twing
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555877668
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
In what ways does national culture influence the direction of US foreign policy? This study analyzes how certain cultural elements influenced the policy preferences and policymaking behaviours of three Cold War-era statesmen - John Foster Dulles, Averell Harriman and Robert McNamara.

Myths of the Cold War

Myths of the Cold War PDF Author: Isaac Deutscher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World politics
Languages : en
Pages : 13

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Book Description


The Myth of Ethnic War

The Myth of Ethnic War PDF Author: V. P. Gagnon, Jr.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801468884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"The wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in neighboring Croatia and Kosovo grabbed the attention of the western world not only because of their ferocity and their geographic location, but also because of their timing. This violence erupted at the exact moment when the cold war confrontation was drawing to a close, when westerners were claiming their liberal values as triumphant, in a country that had only a few years earlier been seen as very well placed to join the west. In trying to account for this outburst, most western journalists, academics, and policymakers have resorted to the language of the premodern: tribalism, ethnic hatreds, cultural inadequacy, irrationality; in short, the Balkans as the antithesis of the modern west. Yet one of the most striking aspects of the wars in Yugoslavia is the extent to which the images purveyed in the western press and in much of the academic literature are so at odds with evidence from on the ground."—from The Myth of Ethnic War V. P. Gagnon Jr. believes that the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s were reactionary moves designed to thwart populations that were threatening the existing structures of political and economic power. He begins with facts at odds with the essentialist view of ethnic identity, such as high intermarriage rates and the very high percentage of draft-resisters. These statistics do not comport comfortably with the notion that these wars were the result of ancient blood hatreds or of nationalist leaders using ethnicity to mobilize people into conflict. Yugoslavia in the late 1980s was, in Gagnon's view, on the verge of large-scale sociopolitical and economic change. He shows that political and economic elites in Belgrade and Zagreb first created and then manipulated violent conflict along ethnic lines as a way to short-circuit the dynamics of political change. This strategy of violence was thus a means for these threatened elites to demobilize the population. Gagnon's noteworthy and rather controversial argument provides us with a substantially new way of understanding the politics of ethnicity.

Myths of Empire

Myths of Empire PDF Author: Jack Snyder
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801468590
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Overextension is the common pitfall of empires. Why does it occur? What are the forces that cause the great powers of the industrial era to pursue aggressive foreign policies? Jack Snyder identifies recurrent myths of empire, describes the varieties of overextension to which they lead, and criticizes the traditional explanations offered by historians and political scientists.He tests three competing theories—realism, misperception, and domestic coalition politics—against five detailed case studies: early twentieth-century Germany, Japan in the interwar period, Great Britain in the Victorian era, the Soviet Union after World War II, and the United States during the Cold War. The resulting insights run counter to much that has been written about these apparently familiar instances of empire building.

Myths of the Cold War

Myths of the Cold War PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things.

Superpower Illusions

Superpower Illusions PDF Author: Jack F. Matlock
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300171419
Category : Cold War
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Former U.S. ambassador to the USSR Jack F. Matlock refutes the idea that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union--with wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy. Matlock argues that Gorbachev, not Reagan, undermined Communist Party rule in the Soviet Union, and that the Cold War ended in a negotiated settlement that benefited both sides. He posits that the end of the Cold War diminished American power; with the removal of the Soviet threat, allies were less willing to accept American protection and leadership that seemed increasingly to ignore their interests. Matlock shows how, during the Clinton and particularly the Bush-Cheney administrations, the belief that the United States had defeated the Soviet Union led to a conviction that it did not need allies, international organizations, or diplomacy, but could dominate the world by using its military power unilaterally. The result has compromised America's ability to lead."--Publisher's description.