Cold War - The Book of the Ground-Breaking TV Series

by Jeremy Isaacs

Cold For 45 Years the World Held Its Breath [Hardcover] Isaacs, Jeremy and Downing, Taylor

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War

438 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 1998

About the author

Sir Jeremy Isaacs (born 28 September 1932) is a Scottish television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1987–96).

Reviews

[Sanchit Kanchan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you think of doing something, the very first question which strikes you is "Where to begin with?". In the study of Cold War with no prior knowledge, many among us face the same dilemma; which book would be good, especially when there are hundreds of books available on the same topic. Here I think I got lucky with my choice.
'Cold War: For Forty-Five Years The World Held Its Breath' is a must have book on your bookshelf. With illustrations and clear text, this book covers all the significant events of the Cold War period, in a detailed manner. Cold War describes the events of the the forty-five year confrontation between the two superpowers that has defined the modern world. Its not usual when the end line of your read brings chill down the spine! "For Forty-five years, the people of the world held their breath, AND SURVIVED." Indeed.

[Neil Arrowsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book about the Cold War. My view is the the US were/are as bad as USSR/Russia and based on this book have no right to any moral high ground. The atrocities from all sides is incomprehensible and for all those years was merely a way of saying “I’ve got a bigger dick than you have.”
Let’s hope that the challenges now being faced between East and West don’t create a new Cold War.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read. A fantastic and comprehensive history of the Cold War with great insights from many individuals that were present at the most significant moments. Would highly recommend and it becomes more relevant by the day.

[Ash Catt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst reading this I made the assumption, or perhaps you may even call it something of a conviction, that the authors of this book must be American, due to the highly evident pro-US slant. However, looking at the profiles of the authors, at least one of them is British, and I suspect that both of them are (I couldn't confirm for sure with a simple brief Google search, and it's too late at night at this point to scour the internet for clues of his birth, when it isn't too important). What I mean to say is that this book falls back on what feels like an old cliche of portraying the US as the 'good guys' and the Soviet Union as the evildoers. Whether this is your opinion or not, a historian's job is to be balanced.

Staying on the line of what a historian's 'job' exactly is, it has to be identified that this is popular history in it's purest form. You could never use this as a source in academic work. However, that's definitely not the reason for it being written, so shouldn't really be taken into account. If you are looking for information on the Cold War, you may need to cross-reference. I say this particularly because of what is labelled a 'select bibliography' at the back, which consists completely from work of other historians. Now, whether the historians themselves did any archival work of their own in the completion of this book is unknown to me, but it is certainly a reason to be wary. The only primary sources in this book are the fascinating pictures that are included throughout that illuminate the described events.

The popular history side of it does make it an accessible work. The prose is almost entirely narrative, which supposedly makes it easy to follow, although the layout of the book itself does make for a rather jarring read. Whole spread pages of pictures interrupt mid-paragraph/sentence which makes it harder to follow, as well as red boxes that inform you about a certain event that is relevant under a nearby subheading. It's a bit disconcerting to have to keep jumping backwards and forwards in terms of what/when I'm reading about.

Also, the language used can be a bit too informal. Phrases like 'made an ass of himself' really do stick out in this kind of text, and a really strenuously object to any such usage of the phrase 'less good' in an official publication of any kind (spoiler alert: the authors use it ... a lot).

Two stars seems a bit of a low grade to have to give this book. I did enjoy it, but then these reviews aren't based completely on the enjoyment of a work when writing about this genre. It's beset by practical problems that make it kind of difficult to read, as well as suspect sourcing and questionable language. Whilst I would recommend to anyone who has a purely hobby based interest - if you are familiar with the Cold War, this book will seem highly pedestrian.

[Hollis Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book of the acclaimed documentary series: if you enjoyed that, you will probably like this. Actually, I would recommend this as required reading if you are interested in the Cold War whether or not you have seen the documentary.

[Rick Brindle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I missed most of the TV series, but the book more than made up for it. A fantastic history of the cold war, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Very accesible, very readable, big politics for big stakes, thank god they never pushed the button.

[Oleg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lively and exciting. Very good concise narrative of what happened during the longest international conflict

[Steve Morris]

I never saw the TV series as I have not had a TV for years.