Architects of Victory: Six Heroes of the Cold War

by Joseph Shattan

Book Overview

The Cold War was one of the most dangerous periods in American history, but it ended with one of our greatest victories: the dismantling of the Soviet Empire and discrediting of Communist ideology.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0891950842
• ISBN13: 9780891950844
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Heritage Books
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

An excellent book and analysis

This book is a very impressive piece of work. Shattan is very fair when he writes about each and every person, no matter what their political stripe. From Churchill's prescient knowledge of what must be done to Truman's acknowledgement of the danger that Communism posed to Adenauer's firm and unwavering alignment with the West to Solzihentisyn(sp?) showing how the Cold War was really a moral struggle to Pope John Paul II's unwavering determination to free Poland to Ronald Reagan who ultimately caused the end of the Cold War; even though it came under Bush's administration; Shattan demonstrates a keen eye for details and an excellent sense of analysis. This is well worth reading for anyone interested in the Cold War.

I'm in Awe of the Wisdom and Insight of These Cold Warriors

This book is a must-read for Cold War history buffs. With so much misinformation and biased commentary on the winners and losers of the Cold War, it was essential that such a book as Shattan's be written to set the record straight.With Western leftist intellectuals still infatuated with Communism, it was inevitable that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union would be followed by books praising Communist leaders and ignoring those that contributed to the system's collapse.This book is a breath of fresh air. It's wonderful to finally read something that gives the champions of Freedom their due credit for crushing Communism and tossing it onto the ash heap of history. I don't expect Liberals, and others prone to blame America, will find much refuge in this book.But for one looking for a fair and honest assessment of those that fought publicly and privately for Freedom and Human Dignity, you will find in this book an accounting of those individuals that challenged the morality and legitimacy of Communism and dared to oppose it. While many were content to co-exist with the Evil Empire, the six heroes described in this book challenged its right to exist and pushed for its demise.In retrospect, one cannot help but be in awe of the near prophetic insight and wisdom that these individuals showed in dealing with the Soviet Union. For instance, Ronald Reagan ignored virtually all public opinion and expert advice when he put Pershing II missiles in West Germany. And he had few defenders when he refused to discontinue SDI as part of a disarmament treaty.Of course, we now know that both of these events were critical turning points in the Cold War. It's hard to imagine anyone else doing what Reagan did. He was a man of firm and unshakable convictions and did not budge no matter what voters were saying or what Sovietologists were telling him. His wisdom and persistence provided a solid foundation for implementing policies aimed at rolling back the Evil Empire.As a Conservative, Reagan understood Human Nature. He understood that Freedom and Human Dignity were given to each by their Creator. He knew that Communism was morally illegitimate since it suppressed Human Nature and denied the existence of the Creator. His constant derision and challenge to the Soviet Union and its leaders caused a crisis of Faith in the Kremlin. American leaders up to that point had accommodated and played nice with Soviet leaders. Reagan did not. Driven by a spiritual insight of the system's wickedness, he called a spade a spade (much to the chagrin of the State Department!) and demoralized the Politburo that had until then believed itself ideologically superior.Of course, Reagan wasn't the only hero of the Cold War. In fact, Reagan followed the course set out by Winston Churchill (and Barry Goldwater) many decades before. Churchill, like Reagan, was incredibly insightful and had uncommon wisdom. In fact, if Churchill's fi

Something We All Should Know

This is a much needed corrective to the conventional wisdom of the past fifteen years, which praises Gorbachev for dismantling his own empire. It never would have happened without Reagan and his predecessors. The chapters on Konrad Adenauer and Alexander Solzhenitsyn were especially valuable because I didn't know them as well as the other four. Definitely a Christmas gift for my many brothers-in-law.

fascinating epic story of the Cold War

This book reminded me of the great historic drama that was the Cold War, and the leaders who battled to win against the forces of totalitarianism. The mini-biographies of these great leaders brought into focus the lives of enormously important figures. Unfortunately, some of these heroes are nearly forgotten now, and their roles in these historic events belittled. This is an important and informative work.

Excellent, elegantly written and insightful

Excellent book. Engaging, informative and a quick read. Tells you more about Reagan in 60 pages than Edmund Morris did in 600. And Shattan gets it right, too. Every one of these six portraits is beautifully crafted: scholarly without being pedantic (telling you exactly as much as you need to know without a lot of extraneous information), and reads like a novel. A history that's a real page-turner! Read it.