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The Long Peace: Inquiries Into the History of the Cold War
In this fascinating new interpretation of Cold War history, John Lewis Gaddis focuses on how the United States and the Soviet Union have managed to get through more than four decades of Cold War confrontation without going to war with one another.
Using recently-declassified American and British documents, Gaddis argues that the postwar international system has contained previously unsuspected elements of stability. This provocative reassessment of contemporary history--particularly as it relates to the current status of Soviet-American relations--will certainly generate discussion, controversy, and important new perspectives on both past and present aspects of the age in which we live.
Using recently-declassified American and British documents, Gaddis argues that the postwar international system has contained previously unsuspected elements of stability. This provocative reassessment of contemporary history--particularly as it relates to the current status of Soviet-American relations--will certainly generate discussion, controversy, and important new perspectives on both past and present aspects of the age in which we live.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 28, 2025
This book was the result of the author preparing a series of papers for conferences and symposia. Having just finished a course on strategy that included discussions about project solarium, NSC 162/2, and NSC 68 I found this book interesting. Good information that frames the Cold War for students of strategy.
February 19, 2023
Gaddis argues that the “Long Peace” the world experienced during the Cold War was a result of a bipolar system. The structure of the system creates stability and peace (if we can call it that way.) He has constructive and well established arguments based on the evidence showing that a bipolar world is more durable and peaceful than a multipolar or a unipolar one…
March 31, 2020
Written about 40 years after two atomic bombs were used in war and it was starting to occur to people that maybe it is not our destiny to blow ourselves up. In 1945 the best and brightest figured out we needed global institutions, and fast, if we're to make sure war doesn't happen again. By the 1980s it is starting to hit people that maybe these institutions might actually work. Yes, wars have happened since 1945 but not between the two major super powers. In the few proxy wars that did happen neither side used nuclear weapons. A stunning fact since we now know multiple presidents were advised several times by senior staff to do so. Praise God for Truman and Eisenhower who kept their heads about them, among others, on both sides. This book is addressing why this has been true, so far.
I believe in the last chapters some of the reasoning by Gaddis was faulty. He enumerates some of the traditional arguments for what defends peace. These include cultural exchange, financial and business ties, good roads linking countries, sporting events, etc. He then makes the point that is so often made: Civil wars happen and Germany in 1913 and 1935 benefited from all these factors and yet were involved in wars. This is as faulty as pointing out that people die in car accidents with seat belts and therefore seat belts don't save lives. All of the factors he dismisses as not defending peace do in fact defend peace. That being said, he does add to the list of factors that have defended the peace. These are well worth reading about.
If one is to read only one book about the subject of what defends and spreads peace I would suggest Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature. This is still my own favorite 600 pages I've ever read. The Long Peace has been extended in length and breadth.
I believe in the last chapters some of the reasoning by Gaddis was faulty. He enumerates some of the traditional arguments for what defends peace. These include cultural exchange, financial and business ties, good roads linking countries, sporting events, etc. He then makes the point that is so often made: Civil wars happen and Germany in 1913 and 1935 benefited from all these factors and yet were involved in wars. This is as faulty as pointing out that people die in car accidents with seat belts and therefore seat belts don't save lives. All of the factors he dismisses as not defending peace do in fact defend peace. That being said, he does add to the list of factors that have defended the peace. These are well worth reading about.
If one is to read only one book about the subject of what defends and spreads peace I would suggest Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature. This is still my own favorite 600 pages I've ever read. The Long Peace has been extended in length and breadth.
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April 2, 2023v interesting
December 16, 2021
因为这是一本30多年前的旧作，所以它必然有很大的局限性。彼时距离苏联解体尚有4年时间，美苏双方的很多档案也都还没有解密。但是它在分析美国的冷战观及其冷战战略的逐步形成上，依然有着巨大的价值。
就中国读者而言，对美国介入朝鲜战争和台海危机背后的思考路径、对华政策的战略考量这些内容的比较思考与换位审视，想必更是有着强烈的切身感受。因为我们至今仍生活在这些选择所造成的余波之中。
然而，特别意味深长的是，作者在全书末尾也承认“历史缔造者和历史编纂者中往往产生出拙劣的预言家。”可他还是忍不住出言警示：“大国意识到它要开始衰败之时是一个充满危险的时刻：早在物质力量本身耗尽之前，它就会表现出古怪甚至绝望的行为。”但吊诡之处恰恰在于，无人能够准确预知一个大国何时才会咽下它的最后一口气。事实也证明了，对此连大国自己都无能为力。
就中国读者而言，对美国介入朝鲜战争和台海危机背后的思考路径、对华政策的战略考量这些内容的比较思考与换位审视，想必更是有着强烈的切身感受。因为我们至今仍生活在这些选择所造成的余波之中。
然而，特别意味深长的是，作者在全书末尾也承认“历史缔造者和历史编纂者中往往产生出拙劣的预言家。”可他还是忍不住出言警示：“大国意识到它要开始衰败之时是一个充满危险的时刻：早在物质力量本身耗尽之前，它就会表现出古怪甚至绝望的行为。”但吊诡之处恰恰在于，无人能够准确预知一个大国何时才会咽下它的最后一口气。事实也证明了，对此连大国自己都无能为力。
January 16, 2026
Mission 2026: Binge reviewing all previous Reads, I was too slothful to review back when I read them
John Lewis Gaddis’s 'The Long Peace' is one of those rare historical works that combines meticulous scholarship with a narrative tension more usually associated with fiction.
Revisiting it, I was struck by the way Gaddis treats the Cold War not as a period of inevitable catastrophe but as a series of contingent choices, miscalculations, and restrained impulses—a tense choreography of nuclear brinkmanship and ideological posturing.
What makes the book compelling is Gaddis’s insistence on nuance: he refuses the seductive simplicity of moral binaries, showing that both superpowers acted out of fear, ambition, and internal pressures, and that the preservation of peace was as much accidental as strategic. The prose is precise yet readable, and the analysis unfolds with a rhythm that mirrors the era’s slow escalation and sudden crises.
Reading it today, one senses the paradox at the heart of the narrative: that the absence of global war was neither inevitable nor preordained, and that the “long peace” is as fragile in memory as it was in reality.
Gaddis emphasises patterns of behaviour, decision-making, and perception, illustrating how the Cold War was waged in minds as much as on maps. The book is measured, yet the tension is constant; even decades later, it leaves a lingering sense of anxiety tempered by admiration for restraint and prudence.
What stayed with me most was Gaddis’s insight into the role of contingency: history is not guided by logic alone, and peace, like war, emerges from complex, often unpredictable human interactions.
Finishing 'The Long Peace', I was aware of a bittersweet duality: the triumph of survival shadowed by the knowledge of how easily it could have unravelled.
It is a work that teaches patience, vigilance, and humility, reminding the reader that the extraordinary calm of a nuclear age depended not on inevitability but on careful observation, prudence, and, above all, human judgement.
Most recommended.
John Lewis Gaddis’s 'The Long Peace' is one of those rare historical works that combines meticulous scholarship with a narrative tension more usually associated with fiction.
Revisiting it, I was struck by the way Gaddis treats the Cold War not as a period of inevitable catastrophe but as a series of contingent choices, miscalculations, and restrained impulses—a tense choreography of nuclear brinkmanship and ideological posturing.
What makes the book compelling is Gaddis’s insistence on nuance: he refuses the seductive simplicity of moral binaries, showing that both superpowers acted out of fear, ambition, and internal pressures, and that the preservation of peace was as much accidental as strategic. The prose is precise yet readable, and the analysis unfolds with a rhythm that mirrors the era’s slow escalation and sudden crises.
Reading it today, one senses the paradox at the heart of the narrative: that the absence of global war was neither inevitable nor preordained, and that the “long peace” is as fragile in memory as it was in reality.
Gaddis emphasises patterns of behaviour, decision-making, and perception, illustrating how the Cold War was waged in minds as much as on maps. The book is measured, yet the tension is constant; even decades later, it leaves a lingering sense of anxiety tempered by admiration for restraint and prudence.
What stayed with me most was Gaddis’s insight into the role of contingency: history is not guided by logic alone, and peace, like war, emerges from complex, often unpredictable human interactions.
Finishing 'The Long Peace', I was aware of a bittersweet duality: the triumph of survival shadowed by the knowledge of how easily it could have unravelled.
It is a work that teaches patience, vigilance, and humility, reminding the reader that the extraordinary calm of a nuclear age depended not on inevitability but on careful observation, prudence, and, above all, human judgement.
Most recommended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews