Synopses & Reviews
The Cold War had seemed like a permanent fixture in global politics, and until its denouement, no Western or Soviet politician had foreseen that an epoch defined by games of irreconcilable one-upmanship between the worldand#8217;s most heavily armed superpowers would end in their lifetimes. Under the long, forbidding shadow of the Cold War, even the smallest miscalculation from either side could result in catastrophe.
Everything changed in March 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. Just four years later, the Cold War and the arms competition was over. The USSR and the US had peacefully and abruptly achieved an astonishing political settlement. But it was not preordained that a global crisis of unprecedented scale could and would be averted peaceably.
Drawing on new archival research, Robert Serviceand#8217;s gripping new investigation of the final years of the Cold Warand#151;the first to give equal attention to the internal deliberations from both sides of the Iron Curtainand#151;opens a window onto the dramatic years that would irrevocably alter the worldand#8217;s geopolitical landscape, and the men at their fore. The End of the Cold War captures the astonishing relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev, two exceptional politicians who cooperated against all odds during extraordinary times. Gorbachev made enormous contributions to reconciliation efforts by, for instance, pressing for maintaining support for rapprochement with the US within the Politburo and refusing to sanction military intervention when civil unrest swept the Baltic states in unprecedented numbers. US Secretary of State George Shultz was the first to call for negotiations with the USSR. And Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Shevardnedze too pressed for disarmament and other radical policies as the Soviet economy tumbled. Facing stern resistance from all fronts, against all odds, and working outside the public gaze, these men would engineer the nuclear arms treaties that marked the end of the Cold War.
This definitive insiderand#8217;s account of the 1980s, the final decade of the Cold War, uncovers how closely the world skirted with disaster, and sheds light on the four men who would forever transform the course of modern history and politics.
Review
and#147;In this authoritative and deeply informed political and diplomatic history, Service (Trotsky), a seasoned British historian specializing in studies of Soviet Russia, delivers a masterful account of the final years of the Cold War, when a small, remarkable group of statesmen sought an end to the dangerous standoff between superpowers. and#133; scholarly yet accessible: detailed, expansive, and engaging.and#8221;
and#151;Publishers Weekly, STARREDand#147;[A] thoughtful re-evaluation of a stunning historical watershedand#133; A wholly satisfying, likely definitive, but not triumphalist account of the end of an era.and#8221; and#151;Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
and#147;Recommended for political scientists, historians, Cold Warriors, and those who value diplomacy.and#8221; and#151;Library Journal, STARRED
Synopsis
On 26 December, 1991, the hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. Yet, just six years earlier, when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and chose Eduard Shevardnadze as his foreign minister, the Cold War seemed like a permanent fixture in world politics. Until its denouement, no Western or Soviet politician foresaw that the standoff between the two superpowersafter decades of struggle over every aspect of security, politics, economics, and ideaswould end within the lifetime of the current generation. Nor was it at all obvious that that the Soviet political leadership would undertake a huge internal reform of the USSR, or that the threat of a nuclear Armageddon could or would be peacefully wound down.
Drawing on pioneering archival research, Robert Service's gripping investigation of the final years of the Cold War pinpoints the extraordinary relationships between Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev, George Shultz, and Shevardnadze, who found ways to cooperate during times of exceptional change around the world. A story of American pressure and Soviet long-term decline and overstretch, The End of the Cold War: 19851991 shows how a small but skillful group of statesmen grew determined to end the Cold War on their watch and transformed the global political landscape irreversibly."
About the Author
Robert Service is a British historian, academic, and author who has written extensively on the history of Soviet Russia, particularly the era from the October Revolution to Stalinand#8217;s death. Service is the author of twelve books, including
Spies and Commissars; the acclaimed
Lenin: A Biography;
Stalin: A Biography; and
Comrades: A History of World Communism. He is currently a professor of Russian history at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of St. Antonyand#8217;s College, Oxford, and a senior fellow at Stanford Universityand#8217;s Hoover Institution.