Six books that illuminate the Cold War era
By
The Economist
Properly proved. Has structure, has flavour, has a point.
Summary
This article from The Economist presents a curated list of six books that help readers understand the Cold War era. It opens with George Orwell's prescient 1945 observation about the term "cold war" and his warning about a future of "horrible stability" under the shadow of the atomic bomb. The piece covers the superpower rivalry and the Cold War's eventual end, serving as a reading recommendation for those interested in the period.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledWe may be heading not for general breakdown but for an epoch as horribly stable as the slave empires of antiquity.
George Orwell was among the first to use the term 'cold war' in its modern sense.
These six books cover the high-stakes decades of superpower rivalry, as well as the cold war's curious end, when the horrible stability Orwell foresaw finally crumbled.
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