Cold wars and proxy conflicts Books

Book Synopsis''For sheer readability he has no peer'' Evening StandardParis in the 1960''s caters for every taste, and nowhere more than at the private ''clinic'' run by the enigmatic Monsieur Datt on Avenue Foch, which supplies psychedelic drugs and sexual favours to the city''s elite - all the while secretly filming guests in order to blackmail them. Into this decadent underworld steps a bespectacled British spy. Sent on what seems like a simple mission, he soon finds himself playing a game where the rules are unknown - and even victory could be fatal.''Take this excellent thriller at a single gulp'' Sunday TimesA PATRICK ARMSTRONG NOVELTrade ReviewA first-rate storyteller who rarely if ever strikes a false note. * Daily Mail *Take this excellent thriller at a single gulp. * Sunday Times *For sheer readability he has no peer. * Evening Standard *Len Deighton is the Flaubert of the contemporary thriller writers. -- Michael Howard * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisSpring 1958: a mysterious individual believed to be high up in the Polish secret service began passing Soviet secrets to the West. His name was Michal Goleniewski and he remains one of the most important, yet least known and most misunderstood spies of the Cold War. Even his death is shrouded in mystery and he has been written out of the history of Cold War espionage - until now. Tim Tate draws on a wealth of previously-unpublished primary source documents to tell the dramatic true story of the best spy the west ever lost - of how Goleniewski exposed hundreds of KGB agents operating undercover in the West; from George Blake and the ''Portland Spy Ring'', to a senior Swedish Air Force and NATO officer and a traitor inside the Israeli government. The information he produced devastated intelligence services on both sides of the Iron Curtain.Bringing together love and loyalty, courage and treachery, betrayal, greed and, ultimately, insanity, Trade ReviewThe larger than life story of one of the West's most productive Cold War counter-intelligence agents - a man who to the CIA's embarrassment turned out also to be a bigamist and a romancer who claimed publicly to be the last descendent of the Russian Czar and heir to his fortune. A made for Hollywood page turner, it's a fascinating read and highly recommended. -- SIR DAVID OMAND, author of How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in IntelligenceTotally gripping . . . a masterpiece. Tate lifts the lid on one of the most important and complex spies of the Cold War, who passed secrets to the West and finally unmasked traitor George Blake. -- HELEN FRY, author of MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War TwoA brilliant and gripping exploration of one of the last great espionage enigmas of the twentieth century. Unputdownable. -- TREVOR BARNES, author of Dead DoublesA wonderful and at times mind-boggling account of a bizarre and almost forgotten spy - right up to the time when he's living undercover in Queens, New York and claiming to be the last of the Romanoffs. -- SIMON KUPER, author of The Happy TraitorA highly readable and thoroughly researched account of one of the Cold War's most intriguing and tragic spy stories. -- OWEN MATTHEWS, author of An Impeccable Spy

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Book SynopsisOxford Revise Edexcel GCSE History: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91 is a complete revision and practice book covering the full topic specification. Revise everything you need to know for this choice of period topic in the GCSE Edexcel History exam, from early tension between East and West to the collapse of the USSR. Each development or crisis is clearly covered. By working through the Knowledge - Retrieval - Practice sections, you will be using proven ways to revise, check and recall so that what you revise sticks in your memory. Knowledge Organisers arrange the information you need to revise helping you to make connections with what you already know. Timelines and charts are used so that key information is presented in a meaningful way. An online glossary helps you to learn the definitions to key terms. Use Retrieval questions to check that you have remembered what you have just revised before moving on to the exam practice. Regular retrieval questions help to combatTable of Contents1: Early tension between East and West 2: The development of the Cold War 3: The Cold War intensifies 4: Cold War crisis: Berlin 1958-61 5: Cold War crisis: Cuba 6: Cold War crisis: the Prague Spring 7: Changing relationship between the superpowers 8: The collapse of the USSR

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Book SynopsisOctober 27, 1962, a day dubbed Black Saturday in the Kennedy White House. The Cuban missile crisis is at its height, and the world is drawing ever closer to nuclear apocalypse.As the opposing Cold War leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, mobilize their forces to fight a nuclear war on land, sea and air, the world watches in terror. In Bobby Kennedy''s words, ''There was a feeling that the noose was tightening on all of us, on Americans, on mankind, and that the bridges to escape were crumbling.''In One Minute to Midnight Michael Dobbs brings a fresh perspective to this crucial moment in twentieth-century history. Using a wealth of untapped archival material, he tells both the human and the political story of Black Saturday, taking the reader into the White House, the Kremlin and along the entire Cold War battlefront. Dobbs''s thrilling narrative features a cast of characters - including Soviet veterans never before interviewed by a western writer - with unique stories to tell, witnesses to one of the greatest mobilizations of men and equipment since the Second World War.Trade ReviewMesmerising stuff ... a riveting hour-by-hour account of one day that could have changed the history of humanity -- Joanna Bourke * The Times *[Dobbs] has made extensive use of untapped archive material to reveal the secrets of the cloak-and-dagger operations behind the nuclear stand-off in the Caribbean... Excellent -- John Crossland * Daily Mail *A book with sobering new information . . . as well as contemporary relevance . . . filled with insights that will change the views of experts -- Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the UN * New York Times Book Review *Dobb's hour-by-hour overview is a worthy study of this much mythologised fortnight . . . Dobb's chronological approach not only provides a natural sense of pace, but also allows him to illustrate the near-fatal time lag in communication between the two sides * Time Out *In this compelling - and thrilling - new study by Michael Dobbs, there is much new material that forces us to revise our assumptions about the crisis... This is the first book about the crisis to tell the story of the tactical cruise missiles and the first to contain interviews with Soviet veterans. Dobbs adopts a cinematic style, cross-cutting between locations and time zones, and perfectly judges the acceleration of pace in the second half of the book which concentrates on Black Sunday. Unlike previous writers, Dobbs gives due prominence to the subplots, any one of which might have sparked mass destruction -- Christopher Silvester * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisThe eighth of John le Carré''s espionage novels to feature his most enduring and well-loved character, George Smiley, and a gripping feat of narrative brilliance, The Secret Pilgrim is published in Penguin Modern Classics with an afterword by the author.The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy. He asks his old mentor, George Smiley, to address his passing-out class. There are no laundered reminiscences; Smiley speaks the truth - perhaps the last the students will ever hear. As they listen, Ned recalls his own painful triumphs and inglorious failures, in a career that took him from the Western Isles of Scotland to Hamburg and from Israel to Cambodia. He asks himself: Did it do any good? What did it do to me? And what will happen to us now? In this late Smiley novel, the great spy gives his own humane and unexpected answers.If you enjoyed The Secret Pilgrim, you might like le Carré''s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold,

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Book Synopsis''Everything about this story is astounding'' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday TimesTrinity was the codename for the test explosion of the atomic bomb in New Mexico on 16 July 1945. Trinity is now also the extraordinary story of the bomb''s metaphorical father, Rudolf Peierls; his intellectual son, the atomic spy, Klaus Fuchs, and the ghosts of the security services in Britain, the USA and USSR.Against the background of pre-war Nazi Germany, the Second World War and the following Cold War, the book traces how Peierls brought Fuchs into his family and his laboratory, only to be betrayed. It describes in unprecedented detail how Fuchs became a spy, his motivations and the information he passed to his Soviet contacts, both in the UK and after he went with Peierls to join the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1944. Frank Close is himself a distinguished nuclear physicist: uniquely, the book explains the science as well as the spying.Fuchs returned toTrade ReviewA masterclass in thriller writing, it bears comparison with the most gripping spy sagas of Ben Macintyre -- Graham Farmelo * Guardian *A brilliant new biography ... The book introduces crucial changes to ... the official version of events. -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *Engrossing, brilliantly researched ... The scale of Fuchs's spying was astounding, as were its consequences -- Jay Elwes * Spectator *He has delved into the archives to produce a remarkable story ... meticulous but highly readable -- Manjit Kumar * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe second sensational volume of ''One of the biggest intelligence coups in recent years'' (The Times)When Vasili Mitrokhin revealed his archive of Russian intelligence material to the world it caused an international sensation. The Mitrokhin Archive II reveals in full the secrets of this remarkable cache, showing for the first time the astonishing extent of the KGB''s global power and influence. ''The long-awaited second tranche from the KGB archive ... co-authored by our leading authority on the secret machinations of the Evil Empire'' Sunday Times''Stunning ... the stuff of legend ... a unique insight into KGB activities on a global scale'' Spectator''Headline news ... as great a credit to the scholarship of its author as to the dedication and courage of its originator'' Sunday Telegraph''There are gems on every page'' Financial Times

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Book SynopsisOffers insight into life in the mid-1960s on a RAF Canberra nuclear-armed squadron in West Germany on the frontline in the Cold War. The author tells his story warts and all, with many amusing overtones, in what was an extremely serious business when the world was standing on the brink of nuclear conflict.

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Book SynopsisRAF and East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War is the result of ten years of research, involving many visits to the former German Democratic Republic by a small Anglo/German team of military specialists. Their purpose was to explore the lives of RAF and East German ?ghter and ?ghter-bomber pilots, in the air and on the ground, at work and play, during the Cold War in North Germany. The book is based largely on personal testimony from these pilots, coupled with facts drawn from of?cial archives and comment from other historical sources. Where possible, political considerations have been avoided and no outright criticism has been intended, readers being left to draw their own conclusions on the thinking, strategies, equipment and tactics discussed. Far from being an intellectual polemic on the Cold War, the text and photographs merely record a slice of history as seen through the eyes of a select few who took up arms in the defence of their respective homelands - and faced each other daily across the Iron Curtain. In an insightful conclusion, Nigel Walpole reassess the threat that both sides believed was genuine during those tense decades of the Cold War and examines the possible course and nature of a conflict which neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact wanted but both actively planned for.

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Book SynopsisThe Skripal Files tells the full story behind the Salisbury Poisonings, one of the most shocking incidents to occur in Britain in recent memory. Broadcaster and historian Mark Urban interviewed Sergei Skripal in the months before the poisoning and explains why Skripal was targeted for assassination.'A scrupulous piece of reporting, necessary, timely and very sobering' – John Le CarréChosen as one of the best political books of 2018 by the Sunday Times.4 March 2018, Salisbury, England.Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were enjoying a rare and peaceful Sunday spent together, completely unaware that they had been poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok. Hours later both were found slumped on a park bench close to death.Following their attempted murders on British soil, Russia was publicly accused by the West of carrying out the attack, marking a new low for international relations between the two since the end of the Cold War.The Skripal Files is the definitive account of the Salisbury Poisonings and how Skripal’s story fits into the wider context of the new spy war between Russia and the West. The book explores Sergei's past as a spy in the Russian military intelligence, explains how he was turned to work as an agent by MI6, and his imprisonment in Siberia. His eventual release as part of a spy-swap brought him to Salisbury where, on that fateful day, he and his daughter found themselves fighting for their lives.Trade ReviewFascinating account of the poisoning case . . . Other books will follow on the Skripals, but they will struggle to match the texture of Urban’s research, its knowledgeable hinterland * The Times *A scrupulous piece of reporting, necessary, timely and very sobering -- John Le CarréEngrossing . . . Urban tells the story of Skripal’s undercover career well, much of it previously unknown and gleaned from around 10 hours of conversations with him at his Salisbury home -- Luke Harding, GuardianBased on his extensive interviews with Skripal, provide an original and often fascinating read on the games that spies played in the wake of the Cold War * Sunday Times *A detailed account of Skripal’s life leading up to these terrible events * Daily Telegraph *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Introduction: Introduction Section - Prologue: An Unlawful Use of Force Section - Part One: Agent Chapter - 1: The Pitch Chapter - 2: Sergei's Journey Chapter - 3: Into the Darkness Chapter - 4: Master Race No Longer Chapter - 5: Breakthrough in Madrid Chapter - 6: Inside the Glass House Chapter - 7: The View From Vauxhall Chapter - 8: Back Into the Light Section - Part Two: Prisoner Chapter - 9: Inside Lefortovo Chapter - 10: Litvinenko Chapter - 11: IK 5 Chapter - 12: Hitmen Chapter - 13: The Fateful Letter Chapter - 14: Operation Ghost Stories Chapter - 15: Deliverance Chapter - 16: Christie Miller Road Section - Part Three: Target Chapter - 17: Sunday 4 March Chapter - 18: The Fight For Survival Chapter - 19: 'Highly Likely' Russia Chapter - 20: The Investigation Falters Chapter - 21: The Information War Chapter - 22: The Long Road to Recovery

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Book SynopsisAdam J. Levine analyzes the origins of the Cuban Missile Crisis, with a particular focus on Nikita Khrushchev’s motives and the response of the Kennedy administration. Levine’s account presents a different portrayal of the events than popularly told, shedding light on John F. Kennedy’s decision-making practices and personal behavior while out of public eye.Table of ContentsPart I: The BackgroundChapter 1: Khrushchev and the Cold War BackgroundChapter 2: The Kennedy Administration and Its PoliciesChapter 3: The Cold War 1961-1962Part II: The CrisisChapter 4: The Great Gamble: The Decision, Plans, BuildupChapter 5: To Look or Not to Look: The Runup to the Crisis, July-October 1962Chapter 6: The First Seven Days: The Secret CrisisChapter 7: The Second Week: The Public CrisisChapter 8: Aftermath and Conclusions

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Book SynopsisAn illustrated history of the long Cold War careers of the US Navy''s last gun destroyers, from the modernized World War II-era Fletcher-class to the Forrest Sherman-class. The finest American destroyers of World War II had surprisingly long careers into the Cold War and the missile age. The 175-strong Fletcher-class was the largest class of US Navy destroyers ever built, and most received some modernization after World War II. A handful were converted into ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) escorts and one was even converted into the US Navy's first guided missile destroyer. Many Sumner-class destroyers were also kept in service, with the last decommissioned in 1973. The Gearing class was the classic US Navy wartime destroyer to have a second Cold War career, some being modified into picket ships and others into ASW escorts. Ninety-five were extensively modernized under the Fleet Modernization and Rehabilitation (FRAM) program which allowed them to serve until 1980. The majority ofTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION USN COLD WAR DESTROYER DESIGNS USN COLD WAR DESTROYER WEAPONS Guns Missiles Torpedoes ASW weapons USN COLD WAR DESTROYER SENSORS Radars ASW sensors COLD WAR GUN DESTROYERS AT WAR AND IN PEACE THE DESTROYER CLASSES The Fletcher class Sumner class Gearing class Norfolk class Mitscher class Forrest Sherman class ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION FURTHER READING INDEX

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Book Synopsis1961. The height of the Cold War. Just hours before work begins on the Berlin Wall, a KGB assassin and his young wife flee for the West before the Iron Curtain comes down and traps them in the East forever. This gripping story of real-life espionage and intrigue began when the Soviets invented a special weapon that killed without leaving a trace and put it in the hands of Bogdan Stashinsky. It is a tale of exploding parcels, fake identities, forbidden love and a man who knew the truth about the USSR’s most classified programme. By the time Stashinsky had his day in court, the whole world was watching.Trade Review‘Remarkable…moves nimbly from midnight shenanigans in Berlin to the bigger picture of superpowers arguing over captive nations.’ * The Times *‘With tensions once again rising…this book makes fascinating reading.’ * Spectator *‘Imaginative…insightful…alarmingly resonant.’ * New Statesman *‘Brims with skulduggery…balances its cloak-and-dagger element with historical insight.’ * Telegraph *‘Gripping.' * GQ *‘One of the greatest espionage stories of all time. Plokhy’s riveting tale of how a KGB assassin came in from the cold reads like a thriller because it is a thriller and all the more powerful because every word is true.’ -- Michael Smith, author of Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews‘This is a remarkable story about one Soviet agent’s attempt to free himself from the overweening and terrifying grip of the KGB at the height of the Cold War. Serhii Plokhy superbly captures the tense mood of the late 1950s and early 1960s in the USSR...thrilling.’ -- Roger Hermiston, author of The Greatest Traitor: The Secret Lives of Agent George Blake‘Evoking classic spy thrillers, Serhii Plokhy – one of the foremost experts on Russian and Cold War history alive today – masterfully tells the stranger than fiction tale of soviet spy Bogdan Stashinsky and the most publicized assassination case of the Cold War.’ -- Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag: A History and Iron Curtain‘The Man with the Poison Gun is the classic old-school Cold War spy tale. It’s all here—the trench coats, the cigarette smoke, the high stakes, the special weapons—deeply documented and smoothly told by Professor Plokhy. In the literature on 20th-century espionage, this book belongs on the top shelf.’ -- Mark Riebling, author of Church of Spies‘This book often reads like an Ian Fleming spy novel, but it is actually about real events that occurred during the tensest phase of the Cold War in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Serhii Plokhy provides a riveting account of the exploits of a Soviet assassin who used poison gas to kill exiled opponents of the Soviet regime amid East-West preparations for all-out war. Plokhy’s meticulously researched book sheds valuable light on the Soviet regime’s continued use of political assassinations in foreign countries long after the death of Joseph Stalin. A wonderful read for scholars and spy novel fans alike.’ -- Mark Kramer, director of Cold War Studies, Harvard University‘A gripping portrait of an assassin and his journey from recruitment to mission to defection, The Man with the Poison Gun exhumes one of the Cold War’s stranger episodes—the KGB’s murder of Ukrainian émigrés with a spray gun that squirted poison. Author Serhii Plokhy tells an evocative and informative tale, based on original archival research, that immerses us in the tradecraft of Soviet spies operating in Western Europe.’ -- Peter Finn, co-author of The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book‘Serhii Plokhy, one of the most brilliant historians of our era, has retraced the steps of a murderer and this gripping book is the result. The Man with the Poison Gun will appeal equally to students of history and lovers of spy thrillers.’ -- Mary Elise Sarotte, author of The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall‘Serhii Plokhy has alighted upon a fascinating episode in the history of Soviet intelligence…Plokhy, a leading Harvard professor, details the story in startling clarity and pinpoint accuracy from an impressive array of sources, German, Russian, Ukrainian and American. Yet he carries his learning lightly, which makes for a very readable story that could as well have emerged from the pen of a spy thriller writer.’ -- Jonathan Haslam, George F. Kennan Professor, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and author of Near and Distant Neighbours: A New History of Soviet Intelligence‘An extraordinary story told with verve and scholarship.’ -- Andrew Lownie, author of Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess

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Book SynopsisA Times History Book of the Year 2022From the #1 bestselling historian Max Hastings the heart-stopping story of the missile crisis' Daily TelegraphThe 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was the most perilous event in history, when mankind faced a looming nuclear collision between the United States and Soviet Union. During those weeks, the world gazed into the abyss of potential annihilation.Max Hastings's graphic new history tells the story from the viewpoints of national leaders, Russian officers, Cuban peasants, American pilots and British disarmers. Max Hastings deploys his accustomed blend of eye-witness interviews, archive documents and diaries, White House tape recordings, top-down analysis, first to paint word-portraits of the Cold War experiences of Fidel Castro's Cuba, Nikita Khrushchev's Russia and Kennedy's America; then to describe the nail-biting Thirteen Days in which Armageddon beckoned.Hastings began researching this book believing that he was exploring a past event from twentieTrade Review PRAISE FOR ABYSS: ‘Grabs from the get-go… as if this were the very best fiction’ Daily Mail ‘A brilliant, beautifully constructed and thrilling reassessment of the most perilous moment in history’ Daily Telegraph ‘Frightening but hopelessly addictive’ The Times ‘Magisterial… chilling’Daily Express ‘Brilliantly told… compelling… Hastings has cleverly woven the story together from all sides describing them in dramatic, almost hour by hour detail… this is a scary book. Hastings sees little evidence that today’s leaders understand each other any better than they did in 1962’ Sunday Times ‘Deeply researched, incisively intelligent and compulsively readable. Abyss is as tight and smart account as any account and will earn pride of place even on a shelf already packed with books about the crisis’ TLS ‘A gripping retelling of those weeks of brinkmanship, reckless gambles, gung-ho generals and a thuggish USSR leader bullying a ‘weak president’’ Sun ‘Superb… reads like a thriller as the gripping drama of the Cold War power politics plays out behind closed doors in Washington, Moscow and Havana’ Daily Mail ‘Hastings lays bare, with chilling clarity, the ease with which political theatre and bluster could well have escalated into a scenario of mutually assured destruction’ Observer

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Book SynopsisAfter The Second World War, the author was exiled for many years from his home country of Poland. In this book, he evokes that homeland and his years away from it; how it nurtured him and how its divisions and destruction shaped a generation.

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Book SynopsisLe Carré''s post-Cold War masterpiece, filled with suspense, betrayal, desire and dramaThe Cold War is over and retired secret servant Tim Cranmer has been put out to pasture, spending his days making wine on his Somerset estate. But then he discovers that his former double agent Larry - dreamer, dissolute, philanderer and disloyal friend - has vanished, along with Tim''s mistress. As their trail takes him to the lawless wilds of Russia and the North Caucasus, he is forced to question everything he stood for.Set in a fragmented, uncertain post-Soviet world, le Carré''s brutal story of falsehoods and betrayal shows men playing dangerous games beyond their control.Trade ReviewA wonderful book, absolutely in tune with the le Carré canon. I cannot think of a more compelling read. * The Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisPERFECT FOR FANS OF NETFLIX''S THE QUEEN''S GAMBIT''Gripping.'' SUNDAY TIMES''Pure drama.''INDEPENDENT''Compelling.''NEW YORK TIMESBobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow details the occasion when Bobby Fischer met Boris Spassky in one of the most thrilling and politically charged chess matches of all time.For decades, the USSR had dominated world chess. Evidence, according to Moscow, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But in 1972 along came the American, Bobby Fischer: insolent, arrogant, abusive, vain, greedy, vulgar, bigoted, paranoid and obsessive and apparently unstoppable.Against him was Boris Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in. . .

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Book SynopsisThe McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom was a true multi-role combat aircraft. Introduced into the RAF in 1968, it was employed in ground attack, air reconnaissance and air defence roles. Later, with the arrival of the Jaguar in the early 1970s, it changed over to air defence. In its heyday, it served as Britain s principal Cold War fighter; there were seven UK-based squadrons plus the Operational Conversion Unit, two Germany-based squadrons and a further Squadron deployed to the Falkland Islands. Phantom in the Cold War focuses predominantly on the aircraft s role as an air defence fighter, exploring the ways in which it provided the British contribution to the Second Allied Tactical Air Force at RAF Wildenrath, the home of Nos. 19 and 92 Squadrons during the Cold War. As with his previous books, the author, who flew the Phantom operationally, recounts the thrills, challenges and consequences of operating this sometimes temperamental jet at extreme low-level over the West German countryside, preparing for a war which everyone hoped would never happen.

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Book Synopsis‘A darkly entertaining tale about American espionage, set in an era when Washington’s fear and skepticism about the agency resembles our climate today.’ New York Times At the end of World War II, the United States dominated the world militarily, economically, and in moral standing – seen as the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom. But it was clear – to some – that the Soviet Union was already executing a plan to expand and foment revolution around the world. The American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly-formed CIA. The Quiet Americans chronicles the exploits of four spies – Michael Burke, a charming former football star fallen on hard times, Frank Wisner, the scion of a wealthy Southern family, Peter Sichel, a sophisticated German Jew who escaped the Nazis, and Edward Lansdale, a brilliant ad executive. The four ran covert operations across the globe, trying to outwit the ruthless KGB in Berlin, parachuting commandos into Eastern Europe, plotting coups, and directing wars against Communist insurgents in Asia. But time and again their efforts went awry, thwarted by a combination of stupidity and ideological rigidity at the highest levels of the government – and more profoundly, the decision to abandon American ideals. By the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union had a stranglehold on Eastern Europe, the US had begun its disastrous intervention in Vietnam, and America, the beacon of democracy, was overthrowing democratically elected governments and earning the hatred of much of the world. All of this culminated in an act of betrayal and cowardice that would lock the Cold War into place for decades to come. Anderson brings to the telling of this story all the narrative brio, deep research, sceptical eye, and lively prose that made Lawrence in Arabia a major international bestseller. The intertwined lives of these men began in a common purpose of defending freedom, but the ravages of the Cold War led them to different fates. Two would quit the CIA in despair, stricken by the moral compromises they had to make; one became the archetype of the duplicitous and destructive American spy; and one would be so heartbroken he would take his own life. Scott Anderson’s The Quiet Americans is the story of these four men. It is also the story of how the United States, at the very pinnacle of its power, managed to permanently damage its moral standing in the world.Trade ReviewEnthralling . . . Lying and stealing and invading, it should be said, make for captivating reading, especially in the hands of a storyteller as skilled as Anderson . . . the climate of fear and intolerance that it describes in Washington also feels uncomfortably timely. * New York Times Book Review *Anderson’s look at four men who ran covert operations around the globe after World War II is as thrilling as it is tragic, as each man confronts the moral compromises he made in the name of democracy. * Washington Post *In this sweeping, vivid, beautifully observed book, Scott Anderson unearths the devastating secret history of how the United States lost the plot during the Cold War. By focusing on the twisty, colorful lives of four legendary spies, Anderson distills the larger geopolitical saga into an intimate story of flawed but talented men, of the 'disease of empires,' and of the inescapable moral hazard of American idealism and power. It's a hell of a book, with themes about the unintended consequences of espionage and interventionism that still resonate, powerfully, today. -- Patrick Radden Keefe, author of The New York Times bestseller and Orwell Prize-winning Say NothingA probing history of the CIA’s evolving role from the outset of the Cold War into the 1960s, viewed through the exploits of four American spies . . . Anderson delivers a complex, massively scaled narrative, balancing prodigious research with riveting storytelling skills . . . An engrossing history of the early days of the CIA. * Kirkus Reviews *A darkly entertaining tale about American espionage, set in an era when Washington’s fear and skepticism about the agency resembles our climate today. * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis"Nuclear Bunkers" tells the previously undisclosed story of the secret defence structures built by the West during the Cold War years. The book describes in fascinating detail a vast umbrella of radar stations that spanned the North American continent and the north Atlantic from the Aleutian islands through Canada to the North Yorkshire moors, all centred upon an enormous secret control centre buried hundreds of feet below Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. This is complemented in the United Kingdom with a chain of secret radars codenamed 'Rotor' built in the early 1950's, and eight huge, inland sector control centres, built over 100' underground at enormous cost. The book reveals the various bunkers built for the U.S Administration, including the Raven Rock alternate war headquarters (the Pentagon's wartime hideout), the Greenbrier bunker for the Senate and House of Representatives, and the Mount Weather central government headquarters amongst others. Developments in Canada, including the Ottawa 'Diefenbunker' and the regional government bunkers are also studied. In the UK there were the London bunkers and the Regional War rooms built in the 1950's to protect against the Soviet threat, and their replacement in 1958 by much more hardened, underground Regional Seats of Government in the provinces, and the unique Central Government War Headquarters at Corsham. Also included in the UK coverage is the UK Warning and Monitoring Organisation with its underground bunkers and observation posts, as well as the little known bunkers built by the various local authorities and by the public utilities. Finally the book examines the provision, (or more accurately, lack of provision), of shelter space for the general population, comparing the situation in the USA and the UK with some other European countries and with the Soviet Union.

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Book SynopsisA new analysis of the technology and tanks that faced off against each other on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, during the very height of the Cold War.From the 1960s onwards, there was a generational shift in tank design and warfare with the advent of CBR (chemical, biological, radiological) protection and a move away from HEAT ammunition to APFSDS. This shift confronted the growing threat of guided anti-tank missiles and saw the introduction of composite armor. Soviet heavy tanks and tank destroyer/assault guns became obsolete, giving way to the technological might of the T-62 and T-64, while NATO forces employed the Chieftain, AMX-30, Leopard I, and M60, plus the initial attempt at a common US-German tank, the MBT-70. Using detailed illustrations and contemporary photographs, this companion volume to NVG 301, Tanks at the Iron Curtain 194660 focuses on key battle tanks and their technology to give a comprehensive overall picture of hTrade ReviewThe writer compares tank production figures, gun and ammunition, armour, and estimated combat effectiveness of opponent tanks. A good review of this big subject with photos and impressive artwork, recommended. -- John Ham * Tankette *This is an easy-to-read volume stacked with great images of cold war tanks, this is definitely a book worth picking up especially war gamers wo either play or plan to play A Cold War gone hot scenario. -- Jason Hubbard * Irregular Magazine *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Tanks, Doctrine, and Organization Soviet Union: The Rise of the Missile Tank Warsaw Pact United States: The Missile Tank Debacle; Radical Alternatives; M48/M60 Improvements United Kingdom West Germany France Tanks in Battle Technical Analysis Firepower T-62 vs. NATO tanks Fire control Protection Tank Armor of the 1960s Mobility Tank Comparisons Combat Effectiveness of NATO/Warsaw Pact Tanks: Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisDrive critical, engaged learning and advanced skills development. Enabling comprehensive, rounded understanding, the student-centred approach actively develops the sophisticated skills key to performance in Paper 2. Developed directly with the IB for the 2015 syllabus, this Course Book fully supports the new comparative approach to learning.Cover the new syllabus in the right level of depth, with rich, thorough subject contentDeveloped directly with the IB, with the most comprehensive support for the new syllabus with complete support for the comparative approachTruly engage learners with topical, relevant material that convincingly connects learning with the modern, global worldStreamline your planning, with a clear and thorough structure helping you logically progress through the syllabusBuild the advanced-level skills learners need for Paper 2, with the student-led approach driving active skills development and strengthening exam performanceIntegrate approaches to learning with ATLs like thinking, communication, research and social skills built directly into learningHelp learners think critically about improving performance with extensive examiner insight and samples based on the latest exam formatBuild an advanced level, thematic understanding with fully integrated Global Contexts, Key Concepts and TOK Also available as an Online Course BookTable of Contents1. Growth and tension - the origins of the Cold War 1943-1949 ; 1.1 The formation of the grand alliance to 1943 ; 1.2 The wartime conferences 1943-1945 ; 1.3 The emergence of superpower rivalry in Europe 1945-1949 ; 1.4 Cold War crisis in Europe ; 1.5 The atom bomb ; 1.6 The roles of the USA and the Soviet Union in the origins of the Cold War ; 1.7 Case Study 1: Yugoslavia under Tito ; 2. Global spread of the Cold War 1945-1962 ; 2.1 Emergence of superpower rivalry in Asia 1945-1949 ; 2.2 Communist success in China and its relations with the USSR and the USA 1946-1949 ; 2.3 North Korean invasion of South Korea 1950 ; 2.4 Origins of the Non-Aligned Movement ; 2.5 old War crisis in Europe - the Hungarian uprising ; 2.6 The Suez Crisis ; 2.7 Congo Crisis 1960-1964 ; 2.85 Berlin Crisis and the Berlin Wall ; 2.9 Sino-Soviet tensions, the Taiwan Strait crises and the split ; 2.10 Cuban Missile Crisis ; 2.11 Case Study 2: Guatemala during the Cold War ; 3. Reconciliation and renewed conflict 1963-1979 ; 3.1 The invasion of Czechoslovakia ; 3.2 Arms race and detente ; 3.3 Sino-US agreements ; 3.4 The election, presidency and overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile ; 3.5 Cold War crisis in Asia Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 1979 ; 3.6 Case Study 3: Vietnam ; 4. The end of the Cold War ; 4.1 Eastern European dissent ; 4.2 Cold War crisis: The Able Archer crisis 1983 ; 4.3 Gorbachev's policies ; 4.4 The effect of Gorbachev's policies on Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War ; 4.5 The end of the USSR 1989-1991

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Book SynopsisA true Cold War espionage thriller set in the ultra-secret Berlin Tunnel - where British officer George Blake must run a high-stakes double cross to maintain his cover.Trade ReviewA spy thriller that kept me up all night. Magnificent story-telling, always clear, every episode meticulously researched. It's also a fascinating commentary on the height of the Cold War with Eisenhower, Kennedy and Khrushchev intimately involved in the skulduggery in Berlin -- Peter SnowA super book, beautifully told and compelling throughout. Vogel sketches George Blake perfectly as a diffident traitor who combines high intellect with ruthlessness -- Luke Harding, author of 'Collusion'A crackling Cold War espionage story, Betrayal in Berlin takes you to the peaks of spying ambition and the depths of betrayal * The Billion Dollar Spy *One of the most dramatic spy stories of the Cold War, superbly told by a real authority on the subject * One Minute to Midnight *Through fresh interviews with principal participants and extensive archival research, Steve Vogel has made the story of the Berlin Tunnel new again. I was riveted to the narrative from start to finish * A Brotherhood of Spies *Steve Vogel is a talented and gifted writer who brings the personalities and idiosyncrasies of every participant in this operation to life...truly one of those rare books you can't put down * Circle of Treason *Praise for Steve Vogel:Probably the best piece of military history that I have read or reviewed in the past five years. . . . This well-researched and superbly written history has all the trappings of a good novel * The Washington Times *[A] fine study . . . Steve Vogel does a superb job of bringing this woeful tale to life * The Washington Post *

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Book Synopsis''A fascinating and timely account of the current crisis in the relationship between Russia and the United States'' Daniel Beer, The New York Times''Could not be more timely ... crucial reading for anyone interested in what''s happening inside Putin''s head'' Oliver Bullough, ProspectA revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of Russian-American relations, from a former US ambassador and ''Obama''s top White House advisor on Russia policy'' (The New York Times)In 2008, when Michael McFaul was asked to leave his perch at Stanford and join President-elect Barack Obama''s national security team, he had no idea that he would find himself at the beating heart of one of today''s most contentious international relationships. McFaul had been studying and visiting Russia for decades, becoming one of America''s preeminent scholars on the country during the first Putin era.During President Obama''s fTrade ReviewMike McFaul gives us a broad, thoughtful analysis of a critical shift in world affairs. Read From Cold War to Hot Peace for timely, informative, and intriguing insights on changing US-Russia relations. -- George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan (1982-1989)As both a first-hand observer and a key participant in many of the recent events that have shaped US-Russia relations, Ambassador McFaul has an important story to tell. From Cold War to Hot Peace is a gripping and intensely personal account of one of the most complex and consequential geopolitical developments of our time. -- Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under Bill Clinton (1997-2001)Mike McFaul has lived history. In this terrific book, he recounts a pivotal time in U.S.-Russian relations, bringing the perspective of a central participant and one of America's finest scholars of Russian politics. This book will be valued by students, experts, historians and diplomats for years to come -- Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under George W. Bush (2005-2009)This is an indispensable book. McFaul is a candid and insightful guide to the history, personalities, and politics that continue to shape one of America's most consequential relationships -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State under Barack Obama (2009-2013)Careful about providing evidence for his hard-earned opinions, the Stanford professor is always clear and successfully assesses the level of complexity we lay-readers need to understand academic theories about revolutions and economics... Persuasive and convincing * Christian Science Monitor *Michael McFaul left his posting as the US ambassador in Moscow in February 2014, as the Russian annexation of the Crimea inaugurated the worst crisis in the East-West relations in generation. In this thoughtful and clearly written account McFaul, one of the architects of President Obama's "reset" policy vis-à-vis Moscow, provides a unique insight in the chain of events that ended the new 'détente" and put the two nuclear superpowers on the brink of a new Cold War. This is a must read for everyone who wants to understand contemporary Russia and the dangerous world we live in today. -- Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University, author of Chernobyl: History of a TragedyImpressive... a candid expert account ... McFaul is a senior policymaker both hugely knowledgeable about and admiring of Russia ... Essential reading * Financial Times *McFaul's lively memoir is an up-close account of how Washington tried to find common ground with a Kremlin crippled by suspicion... McFaul comes at Putin from a special corner: as a boyish enthusiast for engagement with Russia. [...] As a young academic he was hungry to know about how the Soviet Union was going to break up. As an evangelist for democratic change he made contact with dissidents. And then, as special assistant to the president and ambassador, he was behind Barack Obama's 'reset' of relations with Russia * The Times *McFaul sheds needed light on the most geopolitically competitive relationship of the last 75 years * Guardian *Vigorously argued...McFaul's contribution to the debate is significant, based on his experience as a political practitioner as well as an academic analyst * Washington Post *An invaluable memoir -- David RemnickMcFaul provides useful insights into the changing relationship between America and Russia in this smart, personable mix of memoir and political analysis... an essential volume for those trying to understand one of the U.S.'s most significant current rivals * Publisher's Weekly *Of interest to observers of the unfolding constitutional crisis as well as of Russia's place in the international order * Kirkus *In From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia, Michael McFaul examines how U.S.-Russia relations have evolved since 1989. He draws on history as well as the unique perspective he gained while serving as an ambassador. Given what's going on in the world, this book couldn't be more timely * Bustle *An engaging, well-penned account of McFaul's days in Moscow * MacLeans *

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Book SynopsisRising star Simon Hall captures the spirit of the 1960s in ten days that revolutionised the Cold War: Fidel Castro''s visit to New York.With its cool judgements and blackly comic sense of irony, Hall's book is a rare pleasure to read.'DOMINIC SANDBROOK, Literary Review''A lively account . . . Ten Days in Harlem doesn''t stint on piquant detail.''LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS''[A] perceptive, thoroughly researched and readable study.''IRISH TIMESNew York City, September 1960. Fidel Castro - champion of the oppressed, scourge of colonialism, and leftist revolutionary arrives for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. His visit to the UN represents a golden opportunity to make his mark on the world stage.Fidel's shock arrival in Harlem is met with a rapturous reception from the local African American community. He holds court from the iconic Hotel Theresa as a succession o

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Book SynopsisAn illustrated tour of some of the most significant Cold War locations still in existence today, and what they tell us about Britain's Cold War history.

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Book SynopsisThis is a vivid and powerful story of life on board the Royal Navy's Cold War aircraft carriers.

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Book SynopsisThe revolutionary X-15 remains the fastest manned aircraft ever to fly. Built in in the two decades following World War II, it was the most successful of the high-speed X-planes. The only recently broken ''sound barrier'' was smashed completely by the X-15, which could hit Mach 6.7 and soar to altitudes above 350,000ft, beyond the edge of space. Several pilots qualified as astronauts by flying above 50 miles altitude in the X-15, including Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. The three X-15s made 199 flights, testing new technologies and techniques which greatly eased America''s entry into manned space travel, and made the Apollo missions and Space Shuttle viable propositions. With historical photographs and stunning digital artwork, this is the story of arguably the greatest of the X-Planes.

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Book SynopsisFrom an internationally acclaimed expert in the field comes a detailed, analytical, and comprehensive account of the worldwide evolution of tanks, from their inception a century ago to the present day. With new ideas stemming from the latest academic research, this study presents a reappraisal of the development of tanks and their evolution during World War I and how the surge in technological development during World War II and the subsequent Cold War drove tank developments in Europe and America, transforming tanks into fast, resilient, and powerful fighting machines. From the primitive, bizarre-looking Mark V to the Matilda and from the menacing King Tiger to the superlative M1 Abrams, Professor Ogorkiewicz shows how tanks gradually acquired the enhanced capabilities that enabled them to become what they are today--the core of combined-arms, mechanized warfare.Table of ContentsIntroduction Acknowledgements Chapter 1: The Origin of the Species Chapter 2: The ‘Invention of the Tank’ Chapter 3: First World War Battlefield Debut Chapter 4: Post-War Anticlimax Chapter 5: Britain’s Lead and Failings Chapter 6: Tank Development in Europe and America Chapter 7: Creation of the Armoured Forces Chapter 8: Panzers and their Second World War Opponents Chapter 9: The Cold War’s Five Dominant Countries Chapter 10: On the Peripheries of Major Powers Chapter 11: Asia Catches Up Chapter 12: Epilogue Appendixes Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA fresh, new study on the overlooked history of the backbone of the Cold War US Navy, the go-anywhere, do-anything frigate.Though they were never the most glamorous of warships, found US Navy frigates were frequently found on the frontlines of the Cold War at sea. These warships were the descendants of World War II''s destroyer escorts, designed primarily to escort convoys. They specialized in anti-submarine warfare, but were intended to be numerous, tough, versatile, and well-armed enough to show US naval power around the world, performing roles that varied from intercepting drug-smugglers to defending aircraft carriers. When the Cold War turned hot, frigates were often there. It was a US Navy frigate, Harold E. Holt, that conducted the US Navy''s first hostile boarding action since 1826 during the SS Mayaguez incident. Frigates were at the forefront of operations in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War, with the frigate USS Stark suffeTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION Operational missions and employment of US Navy frigates US NAVY FRIGATE WEAPONS ASW weapons US Navy frigate missile systems US Navy frigate guns US Navy ASW sensors US NAVY FRIGATES AT WAR AND IN PEACE THE FRIGATE CLASSES War-built destroyer escorts Dealey class Claud Jones class Bronstein class Garcia class Brooke class Knox class Perry class ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION FURTHER READING INDEX

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Book SynopsisFighter pilots! Images of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker in the Great War, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Stanford Tuck and Richard Bong in the Second World War, or Robin Olds in Vietnam, all spring to mind. Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve - until now. You do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd's fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through the narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia; Europe to the Middle East; linking the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot. The anecdotes provided are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. _Phantom to Warthog_ is a terrific read: the legacy of a fighter pilot.Trade Review"[The author] has, much better than I've been able to do, drafted a compelling conversation that trumpets the fact that this book is far more than a collection of aircraft adventures and personal triumphs--just the kind of image I'd like to convey to an audience much wider than aviation buffs and fellow flyers."--Andy Fraser

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Book SynopsisThis is the third and final stand-alone' account of C Squadron SAS's thrilling operations against the relentless spread of communist backed terrorism in East Africa. Drawing on first-hand experiences the author describe operations against communist-backed terrorists in Angola and Mozambique, aiding the Portuguese and Renamo against the MPLA and Frelimo respectively. Back in Southern Rhodesia SAS General Peter Walls, realising the danger that Mugabe and ZANU represented, appealed directly to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This correspondence, published here for the first time, changed nothing and years of corruption and genocide followed. Although C Squadron was disbanded in 1980 many members joined the South African special forces. Operations undertaken included unsuccessful and costly destabilisation attempts against Mugabe and missions into Mozambique including the assassination of Samora Machel. By 1986 deteriorating relationships with the South African authorities resulted in the break-up of the SAS teams who dispersed worldwide. Had Mike Graham not written his three action-packed books, C Squadron SAS's superb fighting record might never have been revealed. For those who are fascinated by special forces soldiering his accounts are must reads'.

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Book SynopsisThe Cold War, which lasted from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was fought mostly in the shadows, with the superpowers manoeuvring for strategic advantage in an anticipated global armed confrontation that thankfully never happened. How did the intelligence organisations of the major world powers go about their work? What advantages were they looking for? Did they succeed? By examining some of the famous, infamous, or lesser-known intelligence operations from both sides of the Iron Curtain, this book explains how the superpowers went about gathering intelligence on each other, examines the type of information they were looking for, what they did with it, and how it enabled them to stay one step ahead of the opposition. Possession of these secrets threatened a Third World War, but also helped keep the peace for more than four decades. With access to previously unreleased material, the author explores how the intelligence organisations, both civilian and military, took advantage of rapid developments in technology, and how they adapted to the changing threat. The book describes the epic scale of some of these operations, the surprising connections between them, and how they contributed to a complex multi-layered intelligence jigsaw which drove decision making at the highest level. On top of all the tradecraft, gadgets and cloak and dagger', the book also looks at the human side of espionage: their ideologies and motivations, the winners and losers, and the immense courage and frequent betrayal of those whose lives were touched by the Secrets of the Cold War.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the RSL Encore Award 2021‘Extraordinary’ – Spectator‘Powerful’ – Guardian‘Spellbinding’ – The TabletAs the 1950s draw to a close, and the Cold War escalates, the shape of Drummond Moore's life is changed beyond measure when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with James Carter, a rich and well-connected fellow national serviceman. Carter leads him to Doom Town – an army base that seeks to recreate the effects of a nuclear war – where he meets Gwen, a barmaid with whom he shares an instant connection.Set over sixty years of British history, The Blind Light by Stuart Evers is the compelling story of one family as they deal with the personal and political fallout of their times.Trade ReviewA thoughtful and powerful study of the corrosive effects of fear, the damage we do to ourselves and our loved ones when danger is all we can see . . . disconcertingly timely * Guardian *A panoramic novel of modern Britain . . . extraordinary * Spectator *The Blind Light reads like a British Don DeLillo, telling the social history of Britain through two generations of a family -- Alex Preston, ObserverEngrossing . . . A terrific book -- Samira Ahmed, BBC Radio 4Evers excels in his close examination of relationships . . . the complicated nature of guilt and loss is beautifully handled . . . an absorbing read * Irish Independent *Powerfully imagined . . . multi-threaded, unflinching, and visceral * TLS *A shrewd, timely novel * New York Times *A spellbinding family history, encompassing the personal and the political * The Tablet *Rivals the work of American greats such as Bellow and Franzen * The Week *Evers’s book is a widescreen family saga that examines, among other things, the effect of the nuclear threat during the Cold War on the British psyche . . . it’s absorbing – and uncannily timed in its perversely consoling sense of how crises come and go * Daily Mail *The Blind Light is a page-perfect and impeccably structured portrait of Britain’s troubled, post-nuclear generations . . . Evers has written a powerful and affecting novel which excels at being as true to Family and the personal as it is to Nation and the universal, a rare and potent combination -- Jim Crace, author of HarvestOne is taken both by the breadth of vision and the depth of character on offer in Evers' stunning The Blind Light . . . This is an achievement to be admired and, frankly, envied. My hat is off -- Laird HuntA thoroughly absorbing novel which illuminates the nature of friendship and family while offering a compelling portrait of Britain. I loved it -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of LoveExtraordinarily intense, and intensely well written, the echoes of our current situation are uncomfortably close at hand. A complex and powerful novel -- Lissa Evans, author of Old Baggage and Crooked HeartA social history told through 2 generations of the same family. Beautiful & funny & moving. And a hugely hopeful read for our strange new world -- Sarah Franklin, author of ShelterThe Blind Light is staged on a far grander scale than its predecessor. Submerged currents from the cold war guide the plotline . . . [Lyrical but precise descriptions] are the moments when The Blind Light shines most brightly * Financial Times *A sprawling, absorbing, epic crossing generations * Cumbria Life *Subtle and sombre . . . Love, luck, debts and domestic life play out against a historical backdrop that takes in the Cuban Missile Crisis, strikes, civil unrest and the rise of rave culture * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisIn this readable and highly original book, John J. Curley presents the first synthetic account of global art during the Cold War. Through a careful examination of artworks drawn from America, Europe, Russia and Asia, he demonstrates the inextricable nature of art and politics in this contentious period. He dismantles the usual narrative of American abstract painting versus figurative Soviet Socialist Realism to reveal a much more nuanced, contradictory and ambivalent picture of art making, in which the objects themselves, like spies, dissembled, housed and managed ideological differences.

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Book SynopsisIn her own words, the life of the beautiful young model and dancer who helped to bring down the Tory government of Harold Macmillan - the 'Profumo Affair' remains the greatest political sex scandal in recent British history.Following Christine Keeler's death in December 2017, it is now possible to update her book to include revelations that she did not wish to be published in her lifetime. The result is a revised and updated book containing material that has never been officially released, which really does lift the lid on just how far the Establishment will go to protect its own.Published to coincide with the BBC's major new six-part TV drama series, The Trial of Christine Keeler, starring Sophie Cookson as Keeler and James Norton as Stephen Ward

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Book SynopsisMichael Napier describes the naval air power deployed by NATO, Warsaw Pact and neutral countries throughout the Cold War.In 1949, an Iron Curtain was drawn across Europe, and the Cold War that ensued between the Western North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries and the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact lasted through to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. NATO and Warsaw Pact naval forces spread over the world''s oceans, and the powerful forces of the US Navy''s Second Fleet patrolled the North Atlantic, while the Sixth Fleet was positioned in the Mediterranean. The age of the nuclear-powered supercarrier arrived in 1957 with the USS Forrestal, while the Soviet Union''s first aircraft carrier, the Kiev, was commissioned in 1975.In Over Cold War Seas, respected aviation author Michael Napier examines the naval air power of the major combatant forces as it developed from 1949 through to 1989. All the major naval aircraft types are cove

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Book SynopsisA study of the Soviet and NATO armored forces that faced each other off in Central Europe in the early Cold War, and how their technology, tactics, and doctrine were all rapidly developed.For 45 years, the most disputed point in the World was the dividing line between East and West in Europe; here the use and development of tanks was key. In this fully illustrated study, author Steve Zaloga, describes how Soviet and NATO tanks were deployed in the early years of the Cold War, and how a generation of tanks such as the Soviet T-44/T-54 and IS-3, British Centurion, US Army M26/M46 Pershing (all developed during World War II) saw extensive service after the war had ended. Initial post-war generation tanks including the Soviet T-54A, T-10 heavy tank, British late-model Centurions, Conqueror, US Army M41, M47, M48 and the French AMX-13 are examined in detail alongside the most important technical trends of the era: the development of shaped-charge anti-tank projectiles, theTable of ContentsIntroduction The tanks, doctrine, and organization Tanks in battle Technical analysis Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisNorth Korea was an important player in the decolonisation of Africa. Freedom fighters across the continent received vital assistance from Pyongyang, and almost all southern African independence leaders travelled to the North Korean capital at some point, in search of support. This alliance has continued into the twenty-first century, with African postcolonial governments throwing a lifeline to Pyongyang's increasing isolated economy by hiring North Korean companies, despite the United Nations sanctions seeking to isolate the country.Tycho van der Hoog examines the relations between victorious southern African liberation movements and North Korea, from the 1960s to the present. He explains why African presidents sang and danced at parties in Pyongyang, and why North Korean books were translated into Swahili and Afrikaans. He reveals how African soldiers were trained in guerrilla warfare by North Korean instructors, and how North Korean labourers construct monuments in Africa in the shape of AK-47s. And he explores the question of how revolutionary regimes, motivated by a need for survival, work together to defy the global order.Based on extensive research across four continentsincluding recently disclosed African liberation archives and Korean diplomatic cablesthis innovative study is the first book on AfricanNorth Korean relations.

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Book SynopsisIn the United States at the height of the Cold War, roughly between the end of World War II and the early 1980s, a new project of redefining rationality commanded the attention of sharp minds, powerful politicians, wealthy foundations, and top military brass. Its home was the human sciencespsychology, sociology, political science, and economics, among othersand its participants enlisted in an intellectual campaign to figure out what rationality should mean and how it could be deployed. How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind brings to life the peopleHerbert Simon, Oskar Morgenstern, Herman Kahn, Anatol Rapoport, Thomas Schelling, and many othersand places, including the RAND Corporation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Cowles Commission for Research and Economics, and the Council on Foreign Relations, that played a key role in putting forth a u201cCold War rationality.u201d Decision makers harnessed this picture of rationalityoptimizing, formal, algorithmic, and m

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Book SynopsisThis is the first history of the legendary US Army''s HAWK missile system, the world''s first mobile air-defense missile system, which saw service and combat around the world.Designed to counteract the threat posed by advanced 1950s Soviet-built aircraft, the first HAWK unit became operational in 1959. At its peak, it saw frontline service in the Far East, Panama, Europe, and in the Middle East. Units were also used during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, and Persian Gulf War. In the hands of other nations, HAWK proved its efficacy in combat during the Arab-Israeli Wars, Iran-Iraq War, Chadian-Libyan War, and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Credited with shooting down more than 100 aircraft during its combat career, the HAWK system was respected for its lethality. Such was Soviet concern, that the USSR developed electronic jammers, anti-radiation missiles, and other countermeasures specifically to degrade its effectiveness. The US retired its HAWK systems Trade ReviewMuch investigative work has gone into this little researched AA missile system -- John Ham * Tankette *As there is now a fine1/35 model of the HAWK missile unit on the market from AFV Club, I am sure many modellers will enjoy this new book and get plenty of ideas on how to set their model into a diorama scene. -- Robin Buckland * Military Model Scene *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT - Basic HAWK – the 1960s - Self-Propelled HAWK - the early 1970s - Improved HAWK – the 1970s - Product Improvement Program – the 1980s - Post-Cold War – the 1990s SYSTEM OPERATION - Unit organization - Operations OPERATIONAL HISTORY - Panama - Korea - Okinawa and the Far East - Florida and the Cuban Missile Crisis - Vietnam - Germany and Cold War Europe - Middle East and the Gulf War - US-based battalions LEGACY OF THE HAWK MISSILE SYSTEM BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

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Book SynopsisDespite--or because of--its huge popular culture status, Peanuts enabled cartoonist Charles Schulz to offer political commentary on the most controversial topics of postwar American culture through the voices of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang.In postwar America, there was no newspaper comic strip more recognizable than Charles Schulz''s Peanuts. It was everywhere, not just in thousands of daily newspapers. For nearly fifty years, Peanuts was a mainstay of American popular culture in television, movies, and merchandising, from the Macy''s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the White House to the breakfast table.Most people have come to associate Peanuts with the innocence of childhood, not the social and political turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. Some have even argued that Peanuts was so beloved because it was apolitical. The truth, as Blake Scott Ball shows, is that Peanuts was very political. Whether it was the battles over the Vietnam War, racial integration, feminism, or the future of a nuclear world, Peanuts was a daily conversation about very real hopes and fears and the political realities of the Cold War world. As thousands of fan letters, interviews, and behind-the-scenes documents reveal, Charles Schulz used his comic strip to project his ideas to a mass audience and comment on the rapidly changing politics of America.Charlie Brown''s America covers all of these debates and much more in a historical journey through the tumultuous decades of the Cold War as seen through the eyes of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang.Trade ReviewBall has offered a wonderful lens through which to understand not only how Schulz's Christian faith and mildly liberal bent generated a beloved comic strip but also how the life and times of an angst-ridden boy named Charlie Brown and his motley group of friends mirrored the contours of postwar American political culture....Historians of twentieth-century political culture will find much to like about Ball's analysis...of Schulz's comic strip, one that invited readers such as Reagan to project their own political anxieties and concerns onto the lives of minimally sketched cartoon kids. * Robert Genter, Journal of American History *Ball makes a strong case that the world's foremost comic strip was very political, despite common belief to the contrary, its messages deftly shrouded in allegory, ambiguousness, and intentional vagueness by Charles Schulz ... this excellent book provides abundant new material and many fascinating insights. * J. A. Lent, CHOICE *This is a comics studies book that your parents and non-comics friends would also enjoy. Charlie Brown's America is mostly jargon-free and is a fun, fast read. It reprints a substantial number of Peanuts comics and Peanuts-related images, and these entertain readers and help illustrate Ball's ideas. This is an excellent example of how to write good history that a general audience will enjoy reading!.... One of the most impressive elements of Charlie Brown's America is how it presents Charles Schulz as a deeply thoughtful person and then shows how that translates into his work. Ball really does complicate the legacy of Schulz and Peanuts, but he does so in a way that enriches the strip and helps to firmly ground the seemingly timeless Peanuts gang in cold war America....Charlie Brown's America serves up nostalgia, makes you smile, and still manages to make you rethink and reconsider Peanuts and its legacy. * Dan Newland, The Comic Book Yeti *It's enlightening to read Ball's breakdown of where the strip captured the moment and where it strayed. * Heather Seggel, Progressive Populist *Peanuts reflects America, or America reflects Peanuts. Both were true in the case of America's favorite comic strip. For half a century Charles Schulz sent his missive out to the world in a love letter, and his readers loved him back with unparalleled affection. In this thoroughly researched and carefully considered study, Blake Scott Ball explores the reasons why Schulz may have been our best cartoonist. Like Mickey Mouse, Superman, and Chaplin's tramp, Charlie Brown has joined our list of icons who help us understand the human condition. He's a good man, Charlie Brown. * M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College *Blake Scott Ball's Charlie Brown's America uses the history of Charles Schulz's Peanuts as a medium for his fascinating tour of cold war American culture. * Grace Hale, University of Virginia *This valuable study provides essential context for our understanding of a pop-cultural masterpiece. Charles Schulz generally avoided making overt political statements in his comics. But as Blake Ball demonstrates, that doesn't mean that Peanuts was never a political text. In fact, Schulz cultivated a deliberately ambiguous, even polysemic approach when addressing the most hot-button issues of his day—from Women's Liberation to Civil Rights and Environmentalism. * Ben Saunders, University of Oregon *A cultural history with the narrative drive of a well-crafted biography, Blake Scott Ball's Charlie Brown's America unlocks the mysteries behind Schulz's comic masterpiece. Drawing on interviews, speeches, and correspondence between the cartoonist and his fans, Ball offers deftly historicized close readings of Schulz's strip, showing how Peanuts' ideological flexibility made it a 'Rorschach test' for American readers during the Cold War. A tour de force of comics scholarship and an engrossing read! * Philip Nel, author of Was the Cat in the Hat Black? *The book succeeds nicely as both a fresh treatment of Schulz's work and career and as a survey of popular political currents in the mid-twentieth century United States... [It] will interest scholars of mid-twentieth-century cultural history as well as fans and students of comics, comedy, and popular culture. * Kerry Soper, American Historical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Ch 1 Bless You for Charlie Brown: Evangelicalism, Civil Religion, and Peanuts in Postwar America Ch 2 Crosshatch Is Beautiful: Franklin, Color-Blindness, and the Limits of Racial Integration in Peanuts Ch 3 Snoopy Is the Hero in Vietnam: Ambivalence, Empathy, and Peanuts' Vietnam War Ch 4 I Believe in Conserving Energy: Personal Responsibility, Consumer Politics, and Peanuts' Pro-Capitalist Environmental Ethos Ch 5 I Have a Vision, Charlie Brown: Gender Roles, Abortion Rights, Sex Education, and Peanuts in the Age of the Women's Movement Conclusion Notes Bibliography

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Book Synopsis'I cannot think of a better biography of a spy chief'Richard Davenport-Hines, The SpectatorSir Maurice Oldfield was one of the most important British spies of the Cold War era.Trade ReviewAn exemplary biography... it is full of perceptive intimacies and plenty of tradecraft, subterfuge, deception and revelation. I cannot think of a better biography of a spy chief. -- Richard Davenport-Hines * The Spectator *a frank and clear-eyed, if affectionate, biography of a great public servant, cruelly traduced -- Matthew Parris * Spectator, Books of the Year 2016 *An intriguing portrait of a brilliant man * Mail on Sunday *Gripping and candid. * The Times *A welcome biography of a man able to combine warm family and personal relationships with hard-headed intellectual analysis, taking the cold decisions needed to succeed in the most unaccountable and secret of government agencies. -- Richard Norton-Taylor * Guardian *[Maurice Oldfield] was the first professional intelligence officer to make it all the way to the top and become Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service and he was a seminal figure in the creation of the modern MI6. An invisible legend, but a legend nevertheless. -- Frederick ForsythA lively, readable and delightful portrait of one of the most charming men to emerge from the shadows. * Sunday Telegraph *This is the finest biography of a British Spymaster ever written. From Oldfield’s Derbyshire roots to the peaks and valleys of his MI6 career, the insights are revealing, the judgements are fair and the well-wrought narrative makes a compelling read. This is a marvellous addition to the historical literature of the secret world. -- Jonathan AitkenDenied access to the official files but with the co-operation of former intelligence officers, Oldfield's nephew has produced an immensely enjoyable biography of the most important post-war spy chief of Britain's still very, very secret Secret Intelligence Service, revealing the previously unknown private person and the man who kept the British government informed during the Cold War. -- Stephen Dorril, author of MI6: Fifty Years of Special OperationsA revealing study of this most unlikely of spy chiefs, the clever farmer’s son from Derbyshire who reached the top of the most class-bound of professions. Pearce paints a rounded portrait of an enigmatic personality, but one whose skilful reading of human nature and empathy with colleagues made him a popular ‘Chief’ of the Secret Intelligence Service in the dangerous days of the Cold War. * Roger Hermiston, author of The Greatest Traitor *Fuller and more rounded than previous accounts... Pearce amplifies and clarifies our image of a man who contributed significantly to the national zeal and, arguably, world peace. -- Alan Judd * Literary Review *A fascinating insight into the complex world of a master spy. -- Charles Cumming, author of A Divided Spy

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