The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947

By John Lewis Gaddis

Book Overview

This book moves beyond the focus on economic considerations that was central to the work of New Left historians, examining the many other forces -- domestic politics, bureaucratic inertia, quirks of personality, and perceptions of Soviet intentions -- that influenced key decision makers in Washington.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231083025
• ISBN13: 9780231083027
• Release Date: May 1972
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 396 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Classic history synthesizing orthodox and revisionist perspectives

This book is a classic history of the origins of the Cold War. It must be seen in terms of the debates when it was written. The first interpretations of the Cold War told a story of an aggressive, expansionist Soviet Union subverting democracy in Eastern Europe. In the 1960s and 1970s, revisionists began to tell a different story about American economic expansion ("imperialism") as a cause of the Cold War. In this book, Gaddis presents a narrative that takes both sides of this debate seriously. He does not write in an "academic" style but aims instead at the general reader. This is the essential post-revisionist history of the Cold War, though he and many others have updated the history after the opening of Soviet archives in the 1990s. It's a good read, and I highly recommend it despite its age.

Authoritative Work on the Origins of the Post WWII Cold War

Gaddis eloquently addresses the causes of the Cold War. Gaddis discusses the policy of the Truman administration and how a "get tough" policy led to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.