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The Cold War  By  cover art

The Cold War

By: John Lewis Gaddis
Narrated by: Jay Gregory, Alan Sklar
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Publisher's summary

It began during World War II, when American and Soviet troops converged from East and West. Their meeting point, a small German city, became part of a front line that solidified shortly thereafter into an Iron Curtain. It ended in a climactic square-off between Ronald Reagan's America and Gorbachev's Soviet Union. In between were decades of global confrontation, uncertainty, and fear.

Drawing on new and often startling information from newly opened Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives, this thrilling account explores the strategic dynamics that drove the Cold War, provides illuminating portraits of its major personalities, and offers much fresh insight into its most crucial events. Riveting, revelatory, and wise, it tells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand as America once more faces an implacable ideological enemy.

©2006 John Lewis Gaddis (P)2013 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"Thrilling....An utterly engrossing account of Soviet-U.S. relations from WWII to the collapse of the U.S.S.R....A new, concise narration was Gaddis's aim here, and he succeeds royally." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Cold War

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Reaganphile

Reagan saved the day in the 1980s according to Gaddis. Nothing bad occurred because of Reagan, if you are ready for that type of Cold War history, this is good. If not move along to something else.

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A MUST READ

For those interested in post, World War II history, and the so-called Cold War you’ll be amazed how epic and, what it was like during the midst of it, and how it ended. I formally did not recognize it as a war, but I was mistaken. This is a must read for those interested in post World War II history.

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A good start for learning about the Cold War

For someone like me who doesn't know much about the cold war beyond the broad strokes, this was a good read to get into more of the nitty gritty details of the events that unfolded in that time.

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Great telling of history - very relevant today

Gaddis is one of the premier scholars on Cold War History, yet here he has presented a book for the rest of us. Great read (listen)! Well narrated! Expert review of the key facts in history, and very relevant in light of recent activity by the Russian government

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Jumps Around Too Much

It felt like the book jumped around too much and that made it hard to follow. The audiobook chapters also don't line up with the actual chapters at all. Maybe I'll give it another listen once I know more about the Cold War, but I was not able to finish my first listen of it because of how disjointed it felt.

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audiobook chapters are confusing

It would be nice if the audiobooks "chapters" actually corresponded to the books numbers chapters.

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Informative read

I had to read this for a college course..it was very informative…it was tricky to get a timeline from it as it bounced around a bit but once you read it in its entirety you get a full picture. I do feel like it was from a somewhat biased American perspective as you could sense in the language and adjectives used for each sides leaders. Would love to see the KGB intel on our great countries morally superior leaders. No mention of the thousands they were drugging, murdering, poisoning, sterilizing and oppressing in their own country during this time which would of made a more complete, forthright, objective and comprehensive, historically accurate telling of American Cold War history.

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History rhymes

Study the Cold War with the gift of hindsight and freedom of information releases to judge todays political discourse for yourself.

Comunisim is still alive and well in the American Progressice Democrat.

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Disjointed but informative

It felt a bit disjointed with the years jumping around the place. Narrator was great though and the writer knew his business, aside from the Reagan/Thatcher fawning.

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Good overarching review

First book for me on this subject I knew little about. Seems like a starting point. I would recommend

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