The long peace : inquiries into the history of the Cold War / John Lewis Gaddis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gaddis, John Lewis.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union.

United States.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--United States.

Soviet Union.

United States--Foreign relations--1945-1989.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--1975-.

United States--Foreign relations--1981-.

Diplomatic relations.

Local Subjects:

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--1975-.

United States--Foreign relations--1981-.

Physical Description:

ix, 332 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1987.

Summary:

How has it happened that the United States and the Soviet Union have managed to get through more than four decades of Cold War confrontation without going to war with one another? Historian John Lewis Gaddis suggests answers to this and other vital questions about postwar diplomacy in his new book, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War. Gaddis uses recently-declassified American and British documents to explore several key issues in Cold War history that remain unresolved: Precisely what was it about the Soviet Union's behavior after World War II that American leaders found so threatening? Did the United States really want a sphere of influence in postwar Europe? What led the Truman administration first to endorse, but then immediately to back away from, a strategy designed to avoid American military involvement on the mainland of Asia? Why did the United States not use nuclear weapons during the decade in which it had an effective monopoly over them? Did American leaders really believe in the existence of an international communist "monolith"? How did Russians and Americans fall into the habit of not shooting down each other's reconnaissance satellites? Relating these questions to the current status of Soviet-American relations, Gaddis makes a strong case for the relative stability of the postwar international system, a stability whose components include--and go well beyond --nuclear deterrence. The result is a provocative exercise in contemporary history, certain to generate interest, discussion, and, in the end, important new insights on both past and present aspects of the age in which we live.--Publisher description.

Contents:

Legacies: Russian-American relations before the Cold War

The insecurities of victory: the United States and the perception of the Soviet threat after World War II

Sphere of influences: the United States and Europe, 1945-1949

Drawing lines: the defensive perimeter strategy in East Asia, 1947-1951

The origins of self-deterrence: the United States and the non-use of of nuclear weapons, 1945-1958

Dividing adversaries: the United States and international communism, 1945-1958

Learning to live with transparency: the emergence of a reconnaissance satellite regime

The long peace: elements of stability in the postwar international system.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-320) and index.

ISBN:

0195043367

9780195043365

0195043359

9780195043358

OCLC:

15132702

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description