Recommended Reading
The Cold War History Blog does not claim to meet all of your Cold War needs. Each blog topic can encompass a full book, and many constitute an entire field of study. If one of our blog posts piques your curiosity, we encourage you to read some of the books that cover these topics in further detail.
1946: The Making of the Modern World by Viktor Sebestyen
A concise travelogue of the world emerging from the Second World War, it serves as an indispensable primer for Cold War study.
Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War Two by Keith Lowe
A look at the devastation on the ground in Europe after World War Two.
The Manhattan Project edited by Cynthia Kelly
A collection of stories about the making of the Atom Bomb and its implications for the future, including letters and journal entries from the eyewitnesses to history.
Truman by David McCullough
The most comprehensive biography of President Harry S. Truman to date.
Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power and Stalin: Volume II: Waiting for Hitler both by Steven Kotkin
Steven Kotkin's definitive biography on Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin. We anxiously await Volume III.
Recommended Reading
Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Frederick Logevall
A comprehensive account of the French-Indochina War, including a brief history of the French Colony and America's changing attitude toward Vietnam's fight for independence.
An International Civil War: Greece, 1943-1949 by Andre Gerolymatos
One of the few books published in English on the Greek Civil War, it is possibly the only one that adequately covers the policies and politics to give an accurate "big picture" account of the devastating conflict.
The Olympics and The Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the U.S.-Soviet Rivalry by Erin Elizabeth Redihan
A unique profile of the out-sized significance of the Olympic games during the Cold War years.
Global Nuclear Order by Sara Kutchesfahani
A quick rundown of Atomic Diplomacy and Nuclear Policy.
Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
A terrifying tour through the changing U.S. nuclear policy, punctuated by accidents and near-misses in the world of nuclear weapons.
The Sword and The Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of The KGB
by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin.
Top secret files smuggled out of the Soviet Union by Vasili Mitrokhin and published in 1999.
Recommended Reading
The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War
By Benn Steil, 2018, Oxford University Press, UK
The definitive volume on the Marshall Plan. A detailed account of the major players involved in crafting the most comprehensive foreign aid project in American history.
The China Mission: George Marshall's Unfinished War 1945-1947
by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, 2018, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY
A detailed account of Marshall's frustrating and ultimately fruitless mission to broker peace between the nationalists and communists in postwar China.
A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman, and the Birth of Modern China
by Kevin Peraino, 2017, Crown Publishing, New York, NY
Chronicling the fall of Nationalist China to the Communists, this comprehensive volume details the deterioration of U.S. China relations during and after the Chinese Civil War.