Books by Melvyn P Leffler
“Melvyn Leffler’s book admirably combines sound scholarship with readability. He covers the Cold War from beginning to end, but focusing above all on the US-Soviet relationship.” Read more...
The best books on The Cold War
Archie Brown, Historian
A Preponderance of Power
by Melvyn P Leffler
This book is really going back to the seeds of the Cold War and what Leffler sees as the tragedy of the Cold War. He asks the very important question: was the Cold War actually avoidable? He looks at whether there were moments between 1946 and the early 50s when we could have stepped back from the brink and had some kind of modus vivendi with the Soviet Union instead of having this confrontation.
Interviews where books by Melvyn P Leffler were recommended
The best books on The Rise and Fall of America, recommended by Patrick Porter
From the Cold War to the post-9/11 world, Professor Patrick Porter looks at America’s destiny and international function. Grappling with geopolitical questions, he looks at whether America’s flirtations with empire can be reconciled with republican ideals.
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1
The Cold War: A World History
by Odd Arne Westad -
2
For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War
by Melvyn P Leffler -
3
Russia and the Idea of the West
by Robert English -
4
The Enigma of 1989: The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe
Jacques Lévesque (trans. Keith Martin) -
5
Reagan and Gorbachev
by Jack Matlock
The best books on The Cold War, recommended by Archie Brown
The best books on The Cold War, recommended by Archie Brown
American military and economic superiority cannot explain why the Cold War came to an end in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to the historian Archie Brown, you need to accept the primacy of politics and human agency both in the USSR and the West. He chooses five books to understand the Cold War and offers some broader reflections on the qualities of good political leadership—then and now.
