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The big chill: Canada and the Cold War
- GenresCanada
116 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
4 people want to read
About the author
Robert Bothwell
36 books12 followersRobert Bothwell is a professor of Canadian history, and the foremost scholar on Canadian Cold War participation, as well as a frequently published author.
Bothwell completed his BA at the University of Toronto and his PhD at Harvard University. He is currently Director of the University of Toronto's International Relations program at Trinity College, where he is a fellow, and a professor of Canadian political and diplomatic history. Bothwell holds the May Gluskin Chair in Canadian History. His research interests include modern Canadian history and political, diplomatic and military history. Bothwell is an expert on Canada-U.S. relations.
Bothwell completed his BA at the University of Toronto and his PhD at Harvard University. He is currently Director of the University of Toronto's International Relations program at Trinity College, where he is a fellow, and a professor of Canadian political and diplomatic history. Bothwell holds the May Gluskin Chair in Canadian History. His research interests include modern Canadian history and political, diplomatic and military history. Bothwell is an expert on Canada-U.S. relations.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 20, 2020
It’s hard to believe this was written in 1998, and even harder to believe this was written by ostensibly one of the top historians of Canada’s Cold War.
This book mainly suffers from three things:
First, it is told from such a zoomed-out perspective that its historical narrative loses all credibility. There are so many places where entire nexuses of officials, with a huge range of diverse interests, are summed up as “the Americans” or “the British” or whatnot. This shorthand consistently snuffs out historical complexity and mutilates events beyond recognition.
Second, despite this being a very short work, so much time is wasted giving horribly broad recounts of Cold War events. So even though this is touted as work investigating Canada’s role in the Cold War, by the time you are finished, you are only left with a shallow outline of Canadian involvement.
Third, Robert Bothwell had clearly been drinking the Cold Warrior Kool-aid. Bothwell’s ideological commitments rest comfortably in the camp of “Communism bad, West good,” an attitude which consistently bastardizes his historical account. At one point he criticizes Trudeau for having placed the Western bloc and Soviet bloc on nearly morally equivalent ground, citing the Soviet interventions in Eastern Europe. God forbid Bothwell read about Operation Condor or the Phoenix Program!
Heavily propagandized and downright embarrassing work from an acclaimed Canadian historian. There are brief moments of interest, but these are sparse. Do yourself a favour and skip this one.
This book mainly suffers from three things:
First, it is told from such a zoomed-out perspective that its historical narrative loses all credibility. There are so many places where entire nexuses of officials, with a huge range of diverse interests, are summed up as “the Americans” or “the British” or whatnot. This shorthand consistently snuffs out historical complexity and mutilates events beyond recognition.
Second, despite this being a very short work, so much time is wasted giving horribly broad recounts of Cold War events. So even though this is touted as work investigating Canada’s role in the Cold War, by the time you are finished, you are only left with a shallow outline of Canadian involvement.
Third, Robert Bothwell had clearly been drinking the Cold Warrior Kool-aid. Bothwell’s ideological commitments rest comfortably in the camp of “Communism bad, West good,” an attitude which consistently bastardizes his historical account. At one point he criticizes Trudeau for having placed the Western bloc and Soviet bloc on nearly morally equivalent ground, citing the Soviet interventions in Eastern Europe. God forbid Bothwell read about Operation Condor or the Phoenix Program!
Heavily propagandized and downright embarrassing work from an acclaimed Canadian historian. There are brief moments of interest, but these are sparse. Do yourself a favour and skip this one.
Displaying 1 of 1 review