Cold War: The Essential Reference Guide

The impact of the Cold War is still being felt around the world today. This insightful single-volume reference captures the events and personalities of the era, while also inspiring critical thinking about this still-controversial period. Cold War: The Essential Reference Guide is intended to introduce students to the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States that dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century. A comprehensive overview essay, plus separate essays on the causes and consequences of the conflict, will provide readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex era. The guide's expert contributors cover all of the influential people and pivotal events of the period, encompassing the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa from political, military, and cultural perspectives. Reference entries offer valuable insight into the leaders and conflicts that defined the Cold War, while other essays promote critical thinking about controversial and significant Cold War topics, including whether Ronald Reagan was responsible for ending the Cold War, the impact of Sputnik on the Cold War, and the significance of the Prague Spring.

Table of Contents:
Overview of the Cold War Causes of the Cold War Consequences of the Cold War REFERENCE ENTRIES Acheson, Dean Gooderham (1893–1971) Afghanistan War (1979–1989) Africa Arab Nationalism Bay of Pigs (April 17, 1961) Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948–1949) Berlin Crises (1958–1961) Berlin Wall (August 13, 1961–November 9, 1989) Brandt, Willy (1913–1992) Brezhnev, Leonid (1906–1982) Central Intelligence Agency Churchill, Winston (1874–1965) Civil Defense Committee on the Present Danger Communist Revolutionary Warfare Congo Civil War (1960–1965) Cuba Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) Dominican Republic, U.S. Interventions in Dulles, John Foster (1888–1959) Eisenhower, Dwight David (1890–1969) Geneva Conference (1954) Gorbachev, Mikhail (1931–) Greek Civil War (1946–1949) Gromyko, Andrey (1909–1989) Gulags Helsinki Final Act (1975) Hiss, Alger (1904–1996) Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969) Hoover, John Edgar (1895–1972) Human Rights Hydrogen Bomb Indochina War (1946–1954) Israel Johnson, Lyndon Baines (1908–1973) Kennan, George Frost (1904–2005) Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917–1963) Khrushchev, Nikita (1894–1971) Kissinger, Henry (1923–) Korean War (1950–1953) Laos Latin America, Popular Liberation Movements in Literature Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Marshall Plan McCarthyism Missiles, Intercontinental Ballistic Moscow Meeting, Brezhnev and Nixon (May 22–30, 1972) Mutual Assured Destruction National Security Act (July 26, 1947) National Security Agency Nixon, Richard Milhous (1913–1994) Non-Aligned Movement North American Aerospace Defense Command North Atlantic Treaty Organization, History of (1948–1990) NSC-68, National Security Council Report Nuclear Arms Race Nuclear Tests Ostpolitik Partial Test Ban Treaty (August 5, 1963) Peace Movements Perestroika Prague Spring (1968) Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty Reagan, Ronald Wilson (1911–2004) Sakharov, Andrei Dimitrievich (1921–1989) Sino-Soviet Split (1956–1966) Solidarity Movement Sputnik (October 4, 1957) Stalin, Josef (1879–1953) Strategic Air Command Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and Treaties Strategic Arms Reduction Talks and Treaties Strategic Defense Initiative Tiananmen Square (June 4, 1989) Tito, Josip Broz (1892–1980) Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947) U-2 Incident (May 1960) United Nations Vietnam War (1957–1975) Vladivostok Meeting (November 22–24, 1974) Warsaw Pact Washington Summit Meeting, Reagan and Gorbachev (December 7–10, 1987) Yeltsin, Boris (1931–2007) PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS Declaration on Liberated Europe: The Yalta Conference (February 1945) Ho Chi Minh: Telegrams to President Harry S. Truman (September 29, 1945, and February 28, 1946) Winston Churchill: "The Sinews of Peace" (Iron Curtain Speech) (March 5, 1946) George C. Marshall: Remarks by the Secretary of State (Marshall Plan) (June 5, 1947) North Atlantic Treaty (1949) Harry S. Truman: First U.S. Acknowledgment of Soviet Atomic Bomb Detonation (September 23, 1949) Joseph McCarthy: Speech on Spread of Communism (February 20, 1950) Harry S. Truman: Declaration of a National Emergency (December 16, 1950) Douglas MacArthur: Post-Recall Speech to Congress (April 19, 1951) Korean Armistice Agreement (1953) Dwight D. Eisenhower: "The Row of Dominoes," Presidential Press Conference (April 7, 1954) Warsaw Security Pact (1955) Mao Zedong: "U.S. Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger" (July 14, 1956) Imre Nagy: Final Message to the Hungarian People (1956) Soviet Announcement of Sputnik (October 5, 1957) John F. Kennedy: Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961) Vadim Orlov: Account of the B-59 Incident (1962) John F. Kennedy: Commencement Address Announcing Cooperation with Soviets (June 10, 1963) Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) Tonkin Gulf Resolution (August 7, 1964) Chinese Announcement of Nuclear Test (October 16, 1964) Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968) Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I (May 26, 1972) U.S. War Powers Act (November 7, 1973) Yuri Andropov: Memorandum to Brezhnev on Afghanistan (December 1979) Civil Defense Instructions for Home Fallout Shelters (1980) U.S. Government: Disappearances and Human Rights, Three Document Excerpts (1980–1996) Ronald Reagan: The "Evil Empire" (March 8, 1983) Ronald Reagan: "Tear Down This Wall" Speech (June 12, 1987) The Minsk Declarations (Dissolution of the Soviet Union) (December 8, 1991) Competition Spurs Technology Evolving East–West Relations Proxy Wars and Military Aid Ronald Reagan and the Cold War Cold War Chronology Bibliography List of Editors and Contributors Index

About the Author :
James R. Arnold is a military historian and the author of more than twenty books. Roberta Wiener is managing editor of the Journal of Military History.

Review :
Overall, this work is extremely useful. It is informative, easy-to-use, and well-written. The editors and 56 other experts contributed the 85 signed alphabetical entries, along with six essays discussing the causes and consequences of the Cold War, the growth of technology, evolving East-West relations, proxy wars and military aid, and Ronald Reagan and the Cold War. Each entry and essay contains bibliographical references. . . . A recommended purchase for school, academic, and public libraries.