Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev

by Constantine Pleshakov and Vladislav M. Zubok

Book Overview

Covering the volatile period from 1945 to 1962, Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov explore the personalities and motivations of the key people who directed Soviet political life and shaped Soviet foreign policy. They begin with the fearsome figure of Joseph Stalin, who was driven by the dual dream of a Communist revolution and a global empire. They reveal the scope and limits of Stalin's ambitions by taking us into the world of his closest...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674455320
• ISBN13: 9780674455320
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Much-needed New Information

Well, it turns out that Reagan, Truman, and even McCarthy were right all along. The Soviets were evil and laughed themselves sick at the lame efforts by the likes of Averill Harriman, Dean Acheson, and Jimmy Carter to convince them of our good intentions. They had nothing but bad intentions and didn't particularly care what ours were. The Soviets spent 40 years just shaking their heads wondering how we couldn't see that. Zubok brings out tons of information from Soviet archives (which are now probably going to be closed again) that should rewrite the history of the late 20th Century.

A Look into the Kremlin

I found this book an interesting look at the key men who ran Soviet foreign policy between 1945-1964. The book is arranged into biographical sketches about Stalin, Molotov, Malenkov, etc., and each chapter focuses on the foreign policy issue they were most involved with. I found this a little dissatisfying, since it was not strictly chronological, but I assume most readers would have a basic handle on Cold War chronology.The chapters on Stalin, Molotov and Khushchev were the most interesting. I think this book would be most useful to college undergrads in Russian history or 20th Century diplomacy.

A useful insight

Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Kruschev, opens a new dimension to those who are intrested in reading what had really happened during the Cold War. The sections about the atomic bomb preperations and effort of Stalin and three consequent letters of Khruschev to Kennedy during the Cuban Missile crisis -from which we understand caused a strategic policy change by the CPSU- are valuable pieces of information. A useful insight which could bu read as a thriller.