Professor McMahon writes with his customary authority on America's role in the Cold War, but in this gem of a book he reveals also a grasp of the global dimensions of the problem. This is an historian who has travelled--and with his eyes open.

The mass ve disorder and economic ruin following the Second World War made some form of Cold War inevitable, but did not predetermine its scope, intensity,or duration. This clear and stimulatiog Very Short Introduction examinesthe impact the Cold War had on the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe. and the Third World; It looks at the human and financial costs, and at how it affected the broader history of-the second half of the twentieth centUry.

Preface viii

List of illustrations x

List of maps xii

1 World War II and the destruction of the old order 1

2 The origins of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-50 16

3 Towards 'Hot War' in Asia, 1945-50 35

4 A global Cold War, 1950-8 56

5 From confrontation to detente, 1958-68 78

6 Cold wars at home lO5

7 The rise and fall of superpower detente, 1968-79 122

8 The finalphase, 1980-90 143

Further reading 169

Index 175