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The Cold War cover art

The Cold War

By: Odd Arne Westad
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Summary

As Germany and then Japan surrendered in 1945, there was a tremendous hope that a new and much better world could be created from the moral and physical ruins of the conflict. Instead, the combination of the huge power of the USA and USSR and the near-total collapse of most of their rivals created a unique, grim new environment: the Cold War.

For over 40 years the demands of the Cold War shaped the life of almost all of us. There was no part of the world where East and West did not ultimately demand a blind and absolute allegiance and nowhere into which the West and East did not reach. Countries as remote from each other as Korea, Angola and Cuba were defined by their allegiances. Almost all civil wars became proxy conflicts for the superpowers. Europe was seemingly split in two indefinitely.

Arne Westad's remarkable new book is the first to have the distance from these events and the ambition to create a convincing, powerful narrative of the Cold War. The book is genuinely global in its reach and captures the dramas and agonies of a period always overshadowed by the horror of nuclear war and which, for millions of people, was not 'cold' at all: a time of relentless violence, squandered opportunities and moral failure.

This is a book of extraordinary scope and daring. It is conventional to see the first half of the 20th century as a nightmare and the second half as a reprieve. Westad shows that for much of the world, the second half was by most measures even worse.

©2017 Odd Arne Westad (P)2018 Audible, Ltd
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Cold War

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Full picture

Gives an encompassing overview. Gives details to support claims. Not free of personal interpretation and views, which make it interesting to listen to and engaged.

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31 people found this helpful

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One of the best books I've ever read

What an excellent book. I know my political history quite well and even I learned plenty here. about as comprehensive a general overview gets while staying clear of sweeping generalisations or geting bogged down in needless detail. Also the book is read by my favourite narrator so that goes in its favour too. I highly recommend.

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29 people found this helpful

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Just a good listen

This audiobook is extremely interesting and coupled with a really good narrator it creates a very long but detailed account of the Cold War. I like how this book doesn't portray a writer favouring a certain side of the war, you can explore and learn about both the atrocities and the pure humane approaches to this long and drawn out war. It's amazing to put the old ideologies against what we believe and strive for today.

I liked the narrator who spoke in this audiobook, he is well spoken, clear and has a tone of voice which helps you really take in the information. Happily listen to more books read by this narrator.

My only criticism is that some parts could have been condensed down. I understand why it was drawn out though to fully explain one portion of this horrible war.

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10 people found this helpful

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Excellent History of the Cold War

Really enjoyed the book and the presentation. The referrals to the South African Defence Force however are inaccurate. Probably taken from Cuban or Soviet sources. The SADF was never defeated in Angola.

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8 people found this helpful

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Question what you read

An excellent book which has many interesting opinions but the writer made a huge error and when you know something is wrong you wonder what else may be factually wrong.

In the book the author states that the UK joined the EEC following a referendum - not true!

Edward Heath took the country into the EEC (EU) only when the Labour Party returned to power they held a referendum and the decision was to stay. Once in the UK population mainly disinterested voted to stay.

Enjoy the book but question the facts.

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6 people found this helpful

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scary book

brought back many memories, thank God I didn't realise at the time how dangerous some peoples ideas can be

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4 people found this helpful

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Superb analysis

I lived through most of the Cold War period, yet most of this history I didn't know, or didn't imperfectly understood. This book has opened my eyes. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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4 people found this helpful

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Do Not Buy!!!

As someone who loves history and the Cold War.... I just couldn’t get into this as the narrator has a whistle with the letter S which is extremely off putting and annoying.

I read a review which stated this and thought oh don’t be so stupid it can’t be that bad. But it’s really like listening to someone whistle badly for hours on end.

What a waste of money!!!

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4 people found this helpful

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Very interesting but would prefer different narrator

This is an extremely interesting book, placing the Cold War in a global histrical context and not strongly beating the drum for either side. A very complex tale is told clearly and it’s never dull.

I nearly sent it back however, when Joanathan Keble mispronounced the author’s name - he said Arn instead of Arne. In fact I nearly didn’t get the book in the first place because of the way he generally mangles non-English words. How can you turn Liebknecht into Libnickt? The book was, however, gripping enough for me to persist, albeit at times with gritted teeth.

Audiobook publishers - please either stop using him for international history or get him a pronounciation coach.

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4 people found this helpful

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Impressive single-volume overview

Can Jonathan Keeble narrate *everything*? This is the third big chunky history book I've listened to with him reading, and he really is ideal for this kind of thing.

The book itself is probably going to end up the definitive single volume global history of the Cold War. Geopolitics at the grand scale, and very well done. I could quibble with demands for more on Latin America and decolonisation, which are covered but without a huge amount of depth, but it would be nit-picking and overly demanding. And also be due to me having studied all this at university, and so already being familiar with most of it. Had I been less familiar then I may well have given this five stars - I'm rather unfairly docking one because there wasn't much here that was new to me.

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1 person found this helpful