Reviews

The Cold War: A History by Martin Walker

ferris_mx's review

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4.0

A thoughtful assessment of some of the undercurrents of the cold war (largely economic, unsurprising since the writer is an economist). Because neither side trusted the other, many opportunities for de-escalation were lost. The book is very evenhanded in pointing out how both sides contributed to this conflict.

idealpages's review

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4.0

I found Walker’s book excellent, enjoyable and an extremely useful tool in my studies of the Cold War. Walker has successfully achieved a book that has the ability to bring the history to a readable level, that is accessible to everyone - anyone could pick the book up and learn about what happened.

It isn’t the most analytical commentary, but rather simply explains the “what happened” instead of “why it happened”, although Walker did attempt at various points to explain some whys. It is definitely a brief and concise outline of the historical event, which I found to be on the whole as objective as it could be.

So if you’re solely interested in learning what the Cold War was about, Walker’s The Cold War is by far one of the most easiest and simplified versions available to readers, that will be enough of an introduction to the subject area. Thoroughly recommend it!

allynfolksjr's review

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3.0

Written in 1995, The Cold War provides a good overhead view of the general political causes of the Cold War before outlining the political, economic, and military progression of the two great foes. Only 360 pages, it's a brief journey through 50 tumultuous and tense years, but works well to introduce and weave together various threads of the conflict into some sort of cohesive narrative.

idealpages's review against another edition

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4.0

I found Walker’s book excellent, enjoyable and an extremely useful tool in my studies of the Cold War. Walker has successfully achieved a book that has the ability to bring the history to a readable level, that is accessible to everyone - anyone could pick the book up and learn about what happened.

It isn’t the most analytical commentary, but rather simply explains the “what happened” instead of “why it happened”, although Walker did attempt at various points to explain some whys. It is definitely a brief and concise outline of the historical event, which I found to be on the whole as objective as it could be.

So if you’re solely interested in learning what the Cold War was about, Walker’s The Cold War is by far one of the most easiest and simplified versions available to readers, that will be enough of an introduction to the subject area. Thoroughly recommend it!

booksatlunch's review against another edition

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3.0

This book is so chopped-full of information that it's almost hard to read. However, it is a nice middle ground account of the Cold War.
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