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The Cold War: A New Oral History of Life Between East and West
The Cold War is one of the furthest-reaching and longest-lasting conflicts in modern history. It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West.
In this meticulously researched account, Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. Alongside in-depth analysis that explains the historical and political context, the book draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, The Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict.
Accompanying a landmark BBC Radio 4 series, A New Oral History of Life Between East and West is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them.
In this meticulously researched account, Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand. Alongside in-depth analysis that explains the historical and political context, the book draws on exclusive interviews with individuals who lived through the conflict's key events, offering a variety of perspectives that reveal how the Cold War was experienced by ordinary people. From pilots making food drops during the Berlin Blockade and Japanese fishermen affected by H-bomb testing to families fleeing the Korean War and children whose parents were victims of McCarthy's Red Scare, The Cold War covers the full geographical and historical reach of the conflict.
Accompanying a landmark BBC Radio 4 series, A New Oral History of Life Between East and West is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how the tensions of the last century have shaped the modern world, and what it was like to live through them.
544 pages, Hardcover
Published July 6, 2017
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368 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 10, 2019
One of the best history books i have ever read. 700 pages long, yet you dont get bored- not even for a second. Every chapter is followed by a narration of events by ordinary people- children, mothers, father's, soldiers, activists & politicians- who actually lived and breathed through those historical moments, giving the book a very fascinating touch.
A highly recommended read for a concise overview of the entire cold war era.
P.s The book is biased against the soviet union in favour of the western capitalist states, but then again which book doesnt have its biases?
A highly recommended read for a concise overview of the entire cold war era.
P.s The book is biased against the soviet union in favour of the western capitalist states, but then again which book doesnt have its biases?
November 14, 2025
Celkem obsáhlý přehled "konfliktů" z éry studené války od řecké občanské války po rozpad Sovětského svazu. Nečekejte nějaké kontroverze, z textu jsem měl pocit, že se autorka snaží poprat se svým lehce shovívavým pohledem k Sovětskému svazu. Nejzajímavější jsou pohledy aktérů jednotlivých událostí a vhled do některých ne příliš známých událostí.
June 26, 2018
This is one of the best history books I have ever read. A fantastic structure of brief political context on each chapter followed by interviews with people who were actually there makes it easy to follow complex issues of the Cold War. This is something I really liked. The stories brought through narration of the interviews made the events tangible to the reader and enjoyable to read, better than pure facts and figures of the events. And this is something that many books should do. Because often when reading history we forget the story of the individual and forget the story of emotion. But this book made sure that the reader is aware of individual stories. I really liked this aspect. Each chapter had more interviews in it than fact, so it didn't even feel like I read 600 pages of Cold War history within a week. Just as it was when I read enemy at the gates, this book capitlises on accounts of persons making the story of the Cold War a nice narration to follow.
Not much prerequisite knowledge is needed, so anyone with an interest in history can jump in to this book, but a bit of knowledge before hand helps of course. As a german, I was particularly involved in reading the chapters discussing my country's history.
Not much prerequisite knowledge is needed, so anyone with an interest in history can jump in to this book, but a bit of knowledge before hand helps of course. As a german, I was particularly involved in reading the chapters discussing my country's history.
May 28, 2018
I’ve been fascinated by the Cold War for many years and in the last few years have read a couple of books on the subject which I have really enjoyed. This book takes it to another level. It’s appeal is that rather than giving an overview of the Cold War, it focuses directly on the experiences of people throughout the various events such as the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall, Vietnam War. But also events which are not always covered in depth such as the Greek Civil War, Italian election of 1948, Congo Crisis and Angolan Civil War. The insights into the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people and how the Cold War impacted upon their lives is fascinating. The book is so easy to read and by the end I was able to piece together much better why the world was the way it was when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s and why to this day, some of these issues still remain. I highly recommend this book.
January 7, 2024
My love of oral history is no secret, and this book is a worthy addition. I think it's just a brilliant format for subjects that are so monstrously huge -- and as this book illustrates, the Cold War is so much bigger than most people realise or appreciate. As I was saying to my wife, the Cold War should really be known as World War III, because it really involved everyone.
The book is split into sections, each concerned with a different event or time during the Cold War. It's roughly chronological, with some overlaps on long-term things such as the Vietnam War. Each section begins with three or four pages of excellent context, simply and engagingly written and provding a solid backdrop to the testimony to come. The chapter then proceeds to examine the event through the testimony of a handful of people who were involved and witnessed the events first-hand.
Naturally, the number of interviewees is limited. It's no Svetlana Alexievich, and it's clear why: this would be an absolute tome if every single event had that level of focus. Each section has three to five main witnesses, which mostly works but sometimes does mean that the view is limited. What is there is interesting, but I found that in some sections, some perspectives that I thought should be there were missing. (For example, in the chapter on the fall of the Soviet Union, the focus was very political and economical and there was no testimony from any average citizen on what they thought about the insanity of waking up in a brand new country one morning.) Sometimes this is down to practicality, such as the impossibility and safety concerns of finding any mujahidin to testify about fighting the Russians, but sometimes it does seem like an odd choice. This does not happen often, though -- most of the chapters are excellently rounded with a mixture of active players (politicians, journalists, soldiers, revolutionaries, etc) and average citizens/accidental witnesses. There's also a wide range of ages at the time of the events, so there are childrens' perspectives as well as adult ones.
This book is honestly a brilliant addition to Cold War history, and is would be fascinating no matter how much background information you have. I've been interested in various aspects of Cold War history for nearly a decade now, and what I already knew was still examined through a lens I hadn't seen before and I also found out a lot I'd never even heard of. The writing is engaging and straightforward and for a book so long it feels like a really quick read. An impressive piece of work.
The book is split into sections, each concerned with a different event or time during the Cold War. It's roughly chronological, with some overlaps on long-term things such as the Vietnam War. Each section begins with three or four pages of excellent context, simply and engagingly written and provding a solid backdrop to the testimony to come. The chapter then proceeds to examine the event through the testimony of a handful of people who were involved and witnessed the events first-hand.
Naturally, the number of interviewees is limited. It's no Svetlana Alexievich, and it's clear why: this would be an absolute tome if every single event had that level of focus. Each section has three to five main witnesses, which mostly works but sometimes does mean that the view is limited. What is there is interesting, but I found that in some sections, some perspectives that I thought should be there were missing. (For example, in the chapter on the fall of the Soviet Union, the focus was very political and economical and there was no testimony from any average citizen on what they thought about the insanity of waking up in a brand new country one morning.) Sometimes this is down to practicality, such as the impossibility and safety concerns of finding any mujahidin to testify about fighting the Russians, but sometimes it does seem like an odd choice. This does not happen often, though -- most of the chapters are excellently rounded with a mixture of active players (politicians, journalists, soldiers, revolutionaries, etc) and average citizens/accidental witnesses. There's also a wide range of ages at the time of the events, so there are childrens' perspectives as well as adult ones.
This book is honestly a brilliant addition to Cold War history, and is would be fascinating no matter how much background information you have. I've been interested in various aspects of Cold War history for nearly a decade now, and what I already knew was still examined through a lens I hadn't seen before and I also found out a lot I'd never even heard of. The writing is engaging and straightforward and for a book so long it feels like a really quick read. An impressive piece of work.
March 23, 2024
Je to jeden úhel pohledu. Jde o knihuBBC, takže může být ovlivněna západním smýšlením.... východ by stejnou knihu napsal jinak. Chce to posbírat více úhlů pohledu, aby nakonec vznikl nějaký průsečík, který bude nejpravděpodobnější. Je fakt, že je dobře sepsána, přehledná, doplněna o fotky a výpovědi lidí, kteří mají knize dodat důvěryhodnost. V každém případě je to zajímavé a dost si z toho vezmete, ale aby si člověk udělal finální celkový obraz, potřebuje více zdrojů a více knih.
October 11, 2019
The Cold War is often referred to as a war of thought, a confrontation, the war that didn’t happen. That isn’t true.
From the dying days of the Second World War, as Greece descended into civil war, to the implosion of the Eastern bloc in 1989-91, this book tells the story of the Cold War through the voices of those for whom the Cold War was very much a real, lived experience.
From the dying days of the Second World War, as Greece descended into civil war, to the implosion of the Eastern bloc in 1989-91, this book tells the story of the Cold War through the voices of those for whom the Cold War was very much a real, lived experience.
March 23, 2021
This was excellent. Encompassing the entirety of the Cold War from the Greek Civil War to the Collapse of the Soviet Union, this rich oral history brings together voices from across the world as witnesses to the many conflicts, events and developments that shaped much of the 20th Century alongside well-researched, detailed accounts of these events and their wider context.
July 26, 2021
Key incidents of the Cold War in the words of the people who witnessed them, from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although I was pretty familiar with events in Europe, I knew next to nothing about Africa. Fascinating and moving, this really conveyed how the world was affected.
July 11, 2019
This book is extremely informative and interesting- because of its wide variety of first hand accounts, it shows the human side of decades of conflicts and episodes. It brings international affairs back down to earth by reminding the real human costs of politics and ideology.
September 30, 2018
Read this book. Interviews and portraits of people from all sides of the cold war.
December 31, 2018
Excellent work and a timely read. Short essays about many events from across the world are followed by commentaries from the people who lived through each event.
November 15, 2019
A very good, clear and well-written book which examines the Cold War through they eyes of some who were affected directly by it. Includes an externsive further reading list for deeper study.
September 14, 2020
Nice format, which is essentially a lite bite menu of the history of communism and the reactions from the other sides.
July 29, 2021
Excellent!
April 17, 2022
An interesting approach. It works fairly well, although I often would have liked a bit more depth.
July 28, 2022
Each story covered with an insight into different points of view - provokes more thinking and makes the book feel less subjective.
December 8, 2025
An utterly brilliant account of the Cold war giving insight for the individual person. Well written and easy to understand, a core piece of reading for A-Level and above!
February 4, 2021
When the concept is a five-star one. And it is. Kendall’s book collects eye-witness, typically civilian accounts, of the major events of the Cold War - a huge expanse in time, nearly fifty years, and global coverage, “from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba.” It’s an undeniably good idea.
But the concept suffers in this format. The cold war, here, doesn’t feel like a cohesive whole, each event, the blockade of Berlin for example, does feel almost entirely its own. I was often left wanting more on a certain topic, but of course everything is dealt with so quickly. I didn’t finish The Cold War primarily because of its disjointedness, I had no sense of being compelled back to it, indeed I sometimes actively avoided it.
But it is a great concept. The content is good, Kendall’s introductions are informative and the accounts of eyewitnesses, though they lack the beauty of refined writing, still convey many feelings of what that time was like for them.
The book succeeds in every way except in being compelling. The radio show, the partner to this book is available to UK listeners on BBC sounds and it’s definitely better suited for the format. Firstly, it is literally ‘oral’. Secondly, it often features contemporary newsbites, a more engaging method of conveying historic information - well, a more “active” way of doing so at least.
But the concept suffers in this format. The cold war, here, doesn’t feel like a cohesive whole, each event, the blockade of Berlin for example, does feel almost entirely its own. I was often left wanting more on a certain topic, but of course everything is dealt with so quickly. I didn’t finish The Cold War primarily because of its disjointedness, I had no sense of being compelled back to it, indeed I sometimes actively avoided it.
But it is a great concept. The content is good, Kendall’s introductions are informative and the accounts of eyewitnesses, though they lack the beauty of refined writing, still convey many feelings of what that time was like for them.
The book succeeds in every way except in being compelling. The radio show, the partner to this book is available to UK listeners on BBC sounds and it’s definitely better suited for the format. Firstly, it is literally ‘oral’. Secondly, it often features contemporary newsbites, a more engaging method of conveying historic information - well, a more “active” way of doing so at least.
January 1, 2024
50 years of history condensed into 600 pages, Kendall's book is a riveting overview of one of the most consequential periods in human warfare.
Each chapter focuses on a pivotal moment in the Cold War, narrated by first hand survivors of the events. From the Berlin Blockade in Europe to the Congo Crisis in Africa, from the coups in Latin America to the Vietnam War in Asia, the lasting impacts left on every region on Earth are studied in meticulous detail. For anyone interested in understanding more about some of the hidden or less discussed conflicts from that stretch of history between 1945 and 1991, this is the book for you.
Kendall does an incredible job at breaking some of the more complex stories down into smaller, digestible, yet still informative, bites while allowing the survivors of these events to tell their stories in unbiased detail. By affording them this level of impartiality, she opens up our eyes to how the world and history is not always black and white, that horror and humanity can both exist on opposite sides of a conflict. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Each chapter focuses on a pivotal moment in the Cold War, narrated by first hand survivors of the events. From the Berlin Blockade in Europe to the Congo Crisis in Africa, from the coups in Latin America to the Vietnam War in Asia, the lasting impacts left on every region on Earth are studied in meticulous detail. For anyone interested in understanding more about some of the hidden or less discussed conflicts from that stretch of history between 1945 and 1991, this is the book for you.
Kendall does an incredible job at breaking some of the more complex stories down into smaller, digestible, yet still informative, bites while allowing the survivors of these events to tell their stories in unbiased detail. By affording them this level of impartiality, she opens up our eyes to how the world and history is not always black and white, that horror and humanity can both exist on opposite sides of a conflict. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews