Sign-In
Cart
The Cold War for Busy People: The Essential Guide to the Rivalry, the Crises, and the Ideas That Defined the Modern World
Paperback
Series: For Busy People
20th Century United States HistoryArmed ForcesGeneral World History
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798183679502
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 22 2026
Pages: 238
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.50 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 22 2026
Pages: 238
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.50 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Forty years. Two superpowers. One question that nearly ended the world: which way of life would shape the future? The Cold War is the contest that built the world we live in, and most people carry only fragments of it, a wall in Berlin, a crisis over Cuba, a space race, a few famous lines. This book gives you the whole shape, fast, without a seminar or a shelf of doorstop volumes. Its key idea is simple: the Cold War was never one thing, but four rivalries running at once. A nuclear standoff that made direct war unthinkable. A clash of two faiths, capitalism against communism. An economic and technological race. And a global contest fought through proxy wars that cost millions of lives far from Washington and Moscow. Hold those four strands together and the whole story snaps into focus. Inside this book:
- Why the wartime allies became enemies, from Yalta to the Iron Curtain
- How the bomb forced a terrifying peace, and how close it came to failing over Cuba
- The proxy wars, coups, and the long tragedy of Vietnam
- Détente, dissidents, and the human-rights promise that helped topple an empire
- Reagan, Gorbachev, and why the Soviet system collapsed in 1989 and 1991
- The nuclear legacy, and whether a new Cold War is really here
Every chapter ends with the one line to remember, a single sentence you can carry into any conversation. The book separates what is settled from what historians still argue, and it credits the Western victory without flinching from its costs. By the end, you'll understand the Cold War better than almost anyone you'll ever meet.
Also from
Harrington, Noah K.
Made in America: The Patriots, Ideas, and Turning Points Behind 250 Years of National Life
Harrington, Noah K.
Paperback
$26.39
Who Killed JFK?: A Deep Investigation into the Official Story, the Evidence, the Competing Theories, and What We Still Don't Know
Harrington, Noah K.
Paperback
$23.99
History for Busy People: The Big Events, Big Ideas, and Big Turning Points That Shaped the Modern World
Harrington, Noah K.
Paperback
$21.59
COVID-19 for Busy People: The Essential Guide to the Virus, the Policies, the Failures, the Theories, and the Lessons for the Next Pandemic
Harrington, Noah K.
Paperback
$21.59
Also in
Armed Forces
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
From $11.99
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
$11.99
A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution
Head, David
Hardcover
$14.99
The Last of the Old Breed: An Oral History of the Final Marines from World War II
Davis, Scott
Hardcover
$27.00
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777
Atkinson, Rick
Paperback
$21.59
Kennedy's Coup: A White House Plot, a Saigon Murder, and America's Descent Into Vietnam
Cheevers, Jack
Hardcover
$33.25
Losing Freedom: Socialism and the Growing Threat to American Life, Liberty and Free Enterprise
Dee, Laura
Blue, Linden
Paperback
$15.59
The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
Willner, Nina
Hardcover
$33.25
God Forgives, Brothers Don't: The Long March of Military Education and the Making of American Manhood
Craven, Jasper
Hardcover
$27.55
Until the Last Gun Is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America's Soul
Delmont, Matthew F.
Hardcover
$28.80
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
$18.99
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
Gladwell, Malcolm
Paperback
From $10.99
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777
Atkinson, Rick
Hardcover
$38.00
Send It: Canada's Snipers at War in Afghanistan
Nisbet, Barry C.
Bahmanyar, Mir
Cullen, Gordon
Paperback
$24.99
The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America Into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home
Hartung, William D.
Freeman, Ben
Hardcover
$27.00
The Confederacy Myth: How an Insurrection of Slaveholders Tried to Destroy the United States
Williams, Connor
Hardcover
$28.50
George Washington's One-Man Army: The Life, Legend, and Battles of Peter Francisco
Palmer, John T.
Hardcover
$32.95
The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence
Spalding, Matthew
Hardcover
$31.34
Splendid Liberators: Heroism, Betrayal, Resistance, and the Birth of American Empire
Jackson, Joe
Hardcover
$35.10
The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
Isserman, Maurice
Paperback
$18.04
Ortiz's War: The Allies' Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France
Reynolds, Nicholas
Sanders, Katie
Hardcover
$28.49
Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War
Tapper, Jake
Hardcover
$28.50
American Spartan: The Promise, the Mission, and the Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant
Tyson, Ann Scott
Paperback
$19.99
We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam
Galloway, Joseph L.
Moore, Harold G.
Paperback
$18.99
Henry Knox's Noble Train: The Story of a Boston Bookseller's Heroic Expedition That Saved the American Revolution
Hazelgrove, William Elliott
Hardcover
$34.95
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Makos, Adam
Alexander, Larry
Paperback
From $10.99
Doom 34: A Firsthand Account of the Top-Secret Mission that Launched Operation Desert Storm
Morriss, Trey
Hardcover
$28.45
Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh
Painting, Wendy S.
Paperback
$23.70
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Alexander, Larry
Makos, Adam
Hardcover
$29.45
This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition
Fehrenbach, T. R.
Paperback
$31.30
Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution
Edgar, Walter B.
Paperback
$12.34
PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy
Doyle, William
Paperback
$18.04
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution
Yaeger, Don
Kilmeade, Brian
Paperback
$19.95
Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
Snyder, Steve
Paperback
$18.95
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
Miller, Donald L.
Paperback
$21.85
Those Who Face Death: The Untold Story of Special Forces and the Iraqi Kurdish Resistance
Grdovic, Mark
Paperback
$24.99
Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of World War II
Dugard, Martin
Hardcover
$30.40
The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army
Lockhart, Paul
Paperback
From $9.99
The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue
Sherman, Casey
Tougias, Michael J.
Paperback
$18.99
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Hardcover
$30.40
The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
$19.00
Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism
Keown, Tim
Waugh, Billy
Paperback
$10.44
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden
Owen, Mark
Maurer, Kevin
Paperback
$19.00
Countdown Battle of the Bulge: The 40 Days of World War II That Crushed Hitler's Last Hope
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
$34.20
The Last Stand of Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Hornfischer, Estate Of James D.
Hardcover
$28.45
The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States
Schake, Kori
Hardcover
$28.45
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man
Vincent, Lynn
Vladic, Sara
Paperback
$20.90
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
$19.00
All-Star Quilts of Valor, 2nd Edition: 37 Patriotic Patterns from Star Designers
Quilts of Valor Foundation
Paperback
$28.49
War Is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
Butler, Smedley D.
Paperback
$11.35
Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
$22.79
No Ordinary Dog: My Partner from the Seal Teams to the Bin Laden Raid
Layden, Joe
Chesney, Will
Paperback
$19.95
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
$17.10
The Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman: The Complete Annotated Edition
Sherman, William T.
Hardcover
$37.95
Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
Sontag, Sherry
Drew, Christopher
Paperback
From $10.99
W.E. Fairbairn's Complete Compendium of Lethal, Unarmed, Hand-to-Hand Combat Methods and Fighting
Fairbairn, W. E.
Hardcover
$76.25
Alone at Dawn: Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World's Deadliest Special Operations Force
Schilling, Dan
Longfritz, Lori
Paperback
$18.99
The Bulge and Beyond: The Things Our Fathers Saw-The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation-Volume VI
Rozell, Matthew
Hardcover
$43.74
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
Luttrell, Marcus
Paperback
From $11.99
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Hornfischer, James D.
Paperback
From $10.99
Military Ribbon Guide Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force & Coast Guard
Foster, Col Frank C.
Paperback
$18.69
On Desperate Ground: The Epic Story of Chosin Reservoir--The Greatest Battle of the Korean War
Sides, Hampton
Paperback
$18.05
The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion
Brinkley, Douglas
Paperback
$17.99
Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
$19.00
Special Reconnaissance and Advanced Small Unit Patrolling: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Special Operations Forces
Wolcoff, Edward
Paperback
$23.70
Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line
Cormac, Rory
Hardcover
$50.74
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
Webster, David
Paperback
$22.00
Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now
Brust, James S.
Pohanka, Brian C.
Barnard, Sandy
Paperback
$28.45
The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West
Nelson, Megan Kate
Paperback
$18.99
World War II Generation Speaks: The Things Our Fathers Saw Series, Vols. 1-3
Rozell, Matthew
Hardcover
$87.44
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Large Print Edition)
Hillenbrand, Laura
Paperback
$34.00
Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War
Sharfstein, Daniel J.
Paperback
$18.00
The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War
Sanders, Charles J.
Paperback
$21.80
A Soldier's Life: A Black Woman's Rise from Army Brat to Six Triple Eight Champion
Cummings, Edna W.
Hardcover
$28.45
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (National Book Award Finalist)
Faust, Drew Gilpin
Paperback
$18.05
Such Troops as These: The Genius and Leadership of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
Alexander, Bevin
Paperback
$27.00
Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
$21.84
Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II
Kershaw, Alex
Paperback
$20.90
Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians
Welch, James
Paperback
From $10.99
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of Darpa, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
From $12.99
Everything You Were Taught about the Civil War Is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!
Seabrook, Lochlainn
Paperback
$24.99
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
From $9.99