Closing Pandora's Box: Arms Races, Arms Control, And The History Of The Cold War

by Patrick Glynn

This history of arms control in the 20th century challenges the liberal-pacifist view of international relations, and explains the Cold War from a post-Cold War perspective, untangling the complex realities of 20th-century diplomacy, and analyzing the major crises and wars. It re-evaluates the successes and failures of democratic statesmen in the light of the Cold War's ultimate outcome.

464 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

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Reviews

[Tlazeni Citlalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

"War alone - and in the nuclear era, the crisis or showdown - was the arbiter or reality, the unmasker of illusion, the final proof of each nation's true power".

Rarely someone makes a statement like that nowadays but it's one of the authors' conclusions as to why the United States must continue it's military buildup and assume, again, the role of policeman in the world's affair, specially in an era in which nuclear power is for sale and everyone can get a bit. (The Book was published during the "War on Terror" just after the end of the Gulf War so its important to keep in mind the historical context and why the author would try to paint this in a good light)
The author sure has interesting arguments that keep a narrative thread of his tesis: the still modern need for the military and weapons, since peace is unattainable and only "civilized" nations can form such "liberal-pacifistic ideas" while totalitarian nations won't think twice in the edge of a nuclear war.
Besides the author's clearly pro military and pro republican stance (seems like a Ronald Reagan fanboy) I found it an overall okay book, it does have some exaggerated comparisons with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, while dismisses the role of the U.S.A. in its military interventions in other countries and the victims this causes. At times, you can read the All American patriotism. I also found it curious he blamed American weakness and self-restraint as a pitiful consequence of the Vietnam War while being an example of how this lost hurt the American ego so badly.
It is for sure an interesting approach to the arms control and nuclear diplomacy that has carried world politics since the invention of the atomic bomb and all through the Cold War, and it continues to be very relevant nowadays, when regional conflicts threaten again to open Pandora's box and start a nuclear Armageddon.