The Atlantic and Its Enemies A History of the Cold War

After World War II, the former allies were saddled with a devastated world economy and traumatized populace. Soviet influence spread insidiously from nation to nation, and the Atlantic powers--the Americans, the British, and a small band of allies--were caught flat-footed by the coups, collapsing armies, and civil wars that sprung from all sides. The Cold War had begun in earnest. In The Atlantic and Its Enemies, prize-winning historian Norman Stone assesses the years between World War II and the collapse of the Iron Curtain. He vividly demonstrates that for every Atlantic success there seemed to be a dozen Communist or Third World triumphs. Then, suddenly and against all odds, the Atlantic won--economically, ideologically, and militarily--with astonishing speed and finality. An elegant and path-breaking history, The Atlantic and Its Enemiesis a monument to the immense suffering and conflict of the twentieth century, and an illuminating exploration of how the Atlantic triumphed over its enemies at last.

Norman Stone has taught at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Bilkent, where he is now Director of the Turkish-Russian Center. Stone is the author of World War One, The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (winner of the Wolfson Prize), and Europe Transformed.