The Cold War

by R.G. Grant

This series looks at the secret campaigns and operations of the major conflicts of the past 100 years
Part of a six book series that investigates the hidden world of spies, double agents, assassins and saboteurs and how their actions affected the course of the world's major conflicts.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published July 12, 2007

About the author

R.G. Grant is a historian who has written extensively on many aspects and periods of history. Among his more than fifty published books are: Battle, Soldier, and Battle at Sea (2005, 2007, 2008). He was also a major contributor to the ITV Visual History of the Twentieth Century (1999) and consultant for Chronology of World History (1995). He is also a contributor to 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History, where earlier versions of his contributions to Britannica first appeared.

Reviews

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and gave me a good, quick overview of the Cold War. Perfect to get a general understanding and background knowledge for my history topic this year.

[Sijal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sijal Adnani
8th Grade
Book: “Secret History of the Cold War"
written by R. G. Grant
This nonfiction book "Secret History, the Cold War" written by Reg Grant is an informative book about the Cold War and the secrets of the Cold War. The main fact about this war was that the world superpowers never fought a battle directly. Instead, they fought one another by secret ways like spying, media, undercover secret operations, and guerrilla wars.  This book is a part of the of books about Cold World War but also focuses on some of the most famous world spies, double agents, and assassins. In this series, Grant tries to explore the explain, explore and describe the effect of this Cold War.  The book lists to the reader the main events that led to this War, as well as the main people and the secret soldiers and their role in this War.  The book goes back briefly to the history of the World War II when the two superpowers, USA and the Soviet Union, were allies and how they fought together against the Nazis. Later on, the author explains to the readers how these two powers started becoming enemies and fearing each other. Grant explains how the World then got into “MAD situation” that went on for many years in preparation for the third World War. The two powers started fearing each other as they worked on developing their own nuclear power, building missiles and spending a fortune on watching each other closely. Throughout this war, the two countries used also many spying equipment’s, planes, radars, even used dolphins and submarines. These technological spying machines helped both powers gather information about one another, and this information was used to find out what they were planning, or what new inventions they thought of, or what they were building to become stronger. Most interestingly, the main weapons in these War were actually the men and women who worked as spies and double agents, for both countries.  Later on, Grant goes on to explain how the end of the Cold War started around the early 1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet president.  In the last section of the book, we learn about the fall of the Berlin wall, the signing of the Nuclear treaty and finally the collapse of the communism. As one can see, this descriptive book explained the history of the Cold War and showed the reader how it is was a truly interesting period of time.
   The book "Secret History, The Cold War" is clearly a non-fiction book because it contains historical facts and accurate information about an important period of the world history. For example, the book explains exactly what double agents and spies did to get the information to give it to the U.S government, and what kind of technology they used. I believe many of people throughout middle school would enjoy reading this book, particularly the part about spies who participated in the war.  A lot of people prefer types of books with war and spies, and this book provides a good amount of examples of those spies with their full names, photos, life stories and missions. For example, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg who were famous spies who were caught and sentenced to death because they were spying. Furthermore, I enjoyed learning about all nuclear weapons they tried to build to appear more superior to the other nation. However, the most interesting part was the fact that countries can fight, not only by weapon and spies, but also with media, words and images. Moreover, the topic of this book is important because it explains the period in time where two powerful nations and powers were working against each other instead of helping one another. If they worked together they could have created and alliance and would’ve advanced a lot faster, rather than holding each other back. This period of time also teaches a lesson and demonstrates a phrase; teamwork makes a dream work. In brief, this I found this nonfiction book to be fairly interesting because of its facts, and the topic of this book is certainly important to share with people who do not know about the Cold War.
I would recommend this book to middle schoolers, especially those who like books about history, wars, spies, and some technology. This book could also be a good reference for social study class if they are studying about the Cold War because it is brief and has accurate facts. However, "Secret History, the Cold War" can also be good for other readers who are just interested in finding out more information about wars that were a secret, or did not involve weapons because this is also a part of history. It is also a short and fun book to read and includes interesting photos, mostly black and white, but it still helps the mind picture the events. In addition, this can allow almost anyone with an amateur level to read this book and have fun learning about it. On the other hand, I would not recommend it to people who don’t enjoy historical books, or books about war. This book is also short and easy to understand, which makes it simpler than it is. On the whole, there are many people that can enjoy this book and find it useful for studies. 

[Reda Elbardai · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Cold War was a long struggle for global supremacy between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and their allies.” (R. G. Grant 6) The Cold War was never fought openly in the battlefield. Instead they attacked through spying, propaganda, secret operation, and guerrilla wars. The Soviet Union and the United States were allies during World War II. But after the Germans were defeated in 1945 they split apart. The Soviet Union and the United States had many different political systems and beliefs. The thing that started both countries competing was the country with the better weapons. It started with the United states. In 1945, the United States was the only country to have a nuclear bomb. Then the Soviets rushed to create a new bomb, “The Hydrogen bomb.” But the U.S was soon on their level with H-Bombs too (H-Bombs= Hydrogen bombs.) During the periods where both countries were competing, there was an extreme lack of concern in the atmosphere, throwing out radioactive materials in oceans and deserted islands. The U.S and the Soviet Union agreed to stop “tests” above ground. The race continued with missiles and satellites. In 1944, the nazi created the first missile. The U.S and the Soviet Union rushed to get over them. During the rush, it was a surprise that no lives were wasted. Then came the first satellites created by the Soviets in 1957. These satellites carried nuclear missiles. This advantage permitted the Soviets to attack whenever they felt like it. Many U.S citizens were frightened and left the U.S. The U.S quickly came and created their own satellites with missiles in 1958. During this periods all kind of spy equipments were used to spy on the opposite country. Big plates on earth would warn the country if a missile was coming. The U.S. used women and planes to spy on the opposite country. The Soviets used dolphins and submarines to spy. As one can see, the start of the cold war was full of problems.

This book shows by its cover and information that it is a non-fiction book because of the word “war” on the cover and a real “black and white photograph.” The information has many quotes and photographs about subtopics of the Cold War. For example “We had no protective clothing or equipment… We turned to see the fireball form. The shockwave hit us and knocked me backward. The dust was so thick we couldn’t see anything. After the dust settled we marched toward Ground Zero until the radiation got too hot.” ( James Yeats - U.S. soldier during a nuclear test in Nevada.) I think my friends might be interested in this war because it involved a lot of spying. Some of my friends love this subject. The part that was the most interesting to me is the part where the Soviets and the U.S. decided to care about the environment. It was surprising that in such conditions humans decided to take care of the environment. As one can see, this information shows that it is a non-fiction book and that my friends might like it.

I would recommend this book to middle school students because some of my friends like war and spying. I recommend this book to people between 11 and 16 years old because there are words elementary school students might not understand. Also people who like history and technology students because the first technology to go to space was invented by then. As one can see, this book is a book to middle school students.

[Salimos]

English 6(1)

Good Reads #4

Book: The Cold War

The Cold War is book that talks about the Soviet Union and the United States. It is written by:
R. G. Grant. It is named The cold war for 1 specific reason, the Soviet Union and the United States didn't go on an open battlefield war, like most wars, but they used different tactics. They used underhand ways such as spying, propaganda, secret operations and guerrilla war. The United States and the Soviet Union went to war because they had different beliefs and political systems. The Soviet Union saw The United States as an colonial country. United States, on the other side, saw the Soviet Union as a threat to freedom and democracy. The differences between these two countries led to a cold war because each of them to have global supremacy (world power).

The Cold War is a history book because it is about historical facts. The United States tried to have an alliance, Nato, with western countries such Britain, France and Italy. The Soviet Union tried to spread its regime to China, North Korea and other countries. Moreover, the two superpowers had the atom bomb which they never used against each other because it would have been a big disaster for the both sides since it represents a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union included other countries in their struggle. They created conflicts in many countries and started a lot of wars in different regions of the world.

[Larbi Benamour · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like books about the Cold War, well Reg Grant wrote one about it. In this book, there are a lot of subjects like the big secret of the United States, the Cuban missile crisis and the war in Vietnam. The Cold War was a long fight between two superpowers, The United States and the Soviet Union. It is called the Cold War because there wasn't never any open fighting on a battlefield. This book can help us about the causes and the effect of the cold war.

I recommend this book to my brother because his passion is the Cold War which is why I chose this book. I also recommend this book to all my friends who like the Cold War and my teachers if they want to teach us about it.

Summary by Larbi Benamour

[Everson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and to the point.