Synopses & Reviews
The Cold War in the Third World explores the complex interrelationships between the Soviet-American struggle for global preeminence and the rise of the Third World. Those two distinct but overlapping phenomena placed a powerful stamp on world history throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Featuring original essays by twelve leading scholars, this collection examines the influence of the newly emerging states of the Third World on the course of the Cold War and on the international behavior and priorities of the two superpowers. It also analyzes the impact of the Cold War on the developing states and societies of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Blending the new, internationalist approaches to the Cold War with the latest research on the global south in a tumultuous era of decolonization and state-building, The Cold War in the Third World bring together diverse strands of scholarship to address some of the most compelling issues in modern world history.
Review
"This collection helps clarify the complex interrelationship of the Soviet-US conflict while addressing many parts of the world that have usually been left out of the discussion of the Cold War. The book contributes much to the understanding of the modern world in the late twentieth century." --CHOICE
"This volume vividly illuminates how the Cold War shaped developments in the Third World and how nationalist leaders in Asia, Africa, and Latin America sought to assert their agency and modernization projects in a bipolar world. There is no better introduction to this subject than this collection of essays by some of the world's most eminent scholars." --Melvyn P. Leffler, author of For the Soul of Mankind
"Examining both regions and functional topics, these penetrating essays illuminate the ways in which the Cold War and the states and societies in the Third World interacted and shaped each other. The volume is filled with current research for the experts but also is accessible to a wide audience." --Robert Jervis, Columbia University
About the Author
Robert J. McMahon is the Ralph D. Mershon Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio State University. He is the author, among other works, of
Cold War on the Periphery: The United States, India, and Pakistan,
The Limits of Empire: The United States and Southeast Asia since World War II, and
The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction. Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Cold War and the Middle East- Salim Yaqub
2. What Was Containment?: Short and Long Answers from the Americas- Greg Grandin
3. Southeast Asia in the Cold War- Bradley R. Simpson
4. South Asia and the Cold War- David C. Engerman
5. China, the Third World, and the Cold War- Chen Jian
6. Africa's Cold War- Jeffrey James Byrne
7. Decolonization, the Cold War, and the Post-Columbian Era- Jason C. Parker
8. The Rise and Fall of Non-Alignment- Mark Atwood Lawrence
9. Culture, the Cold War, and the Third World- Andrew J. Rotter
10. The Histories of African Americans' Anti-colonialism during the Cold War- Carol Anderson
11. The War on the Peasant: The United States and the Third World- Nick Cullather
Epilogue The Cold War and the Third World-- Odd Arne Westad