The Fifty-Year Wound How America's Cold War Victory Shapes Our World

America won the cold war, what Derek Leebaert calls a "muffled worldwar" in The Fifty-Year Wound, but the cost of victory--psychically,morally, and financially--was beyond frightful. The Soviet Union collapsedpeacefully; civilization survived "more or less" intact; the world was"liberalized," and the cold war period was the longest "great power" peace sinceRome fell. But a half-century "pattern of alarm" and the "industry of nationalsecurity" curbed freedoms, diverted talent into "fundamentally unproductive"fields, postponed research, "trammeled" investment, and caused a national "wasteof spirit." As well, Leebaert suggests the Cuban missiles were primarilypsychological threats; American involvement in Vietnam led to OPEC's economicmuscle; Kennedy was perhaps the most hawkish of post-WWII presidents, and thatthe events of September 11 were a direct cold war legacy. This massive,comprehensive, and stern but guardedly optimistic overview will reward thedetermined reader with its insights and hundreds of telling, sometimes shocking,details. --H. O'Billovitch

Derek Leebaert teaches government at Georgetown University. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University and is a founding editor of the journal International Security. He lives in Washington, D.C., and frequently consults for agencies of the U.S. government