We Now Know Rethinking Cold War History

"Despite the book's subtitle, the picture Mr Gaddis paints of the main lines of international relations over the past 45 years is familiar. If anything, it is closer to what might be called 'conservative' orthodoxy than to any of the waves of revisionism. The new evidence does not support the revisionist view that the Soviet Union had little to do with the war in Korea. It shows how Stalin maneuvered to press Mao Zedong into supporting Kim Il Sung's adventure. Stalin, indeed, is at the centre of Mr Gaddis's composition throughout. 'The new history,' he writes, 'is bringing us back to an old answer: that as long as Stalin was running the Soviet Union a cold war was unavoidable.' Who was responsible? The answer, he thinks, is 'authoritarianism in general,' and 'Stalin in particular'. Why did the United States win the cold war? Because of its virtues, is Mr Gaddis's answer."Gaddis, John Lewis is the author of 'We Now Know Rethinking Cold War History', published 1998 under ISBN 9780198780717 and ISBN 0198780710.