Overview

"CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2016 This book examines six summits spanning the beginning and the end of the Cold War. Using declassified documents from U.S., British, and other archives, Chris Tudda shows how the Cold War developed from an ideological struggle between capitalism and communism into a truly global struggle. From Potsdam in 1945, to Malta in 1989, the nuclear superpowers met to determine how to end World War II, manage the arms race, and ultimately, end the Cold War. Meanwhile, the newly independent nations of the ""Third World,"" including the People's Republic of China, became active and respected members of the international community determined to manage their own fates independent of the superpowers. The six summits - Potsdam (1945), Bandung (1955), Glassboro (1967), Beijing (1972), Vienna (1972), and Malta (1989) - are here examined together in a single volume for the first time. An introductory essay provides a historiographical analysis of Cold War summitry, while the conclusion ties the summits together and demonstrates how the history of the Cold War can be understood not only by examining the meetings between the superpowers, but also by analyzing how the developing nations became agents of change and thus affected international relations."

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9781472532275

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Reviews

Cold War summit diplomacy did matter and was mandatory for the survival of the planet due to the advent of the nuclear arms race. Chris Tudda's book meticulously recounts the conversations of world leaders and carefully contextualizes and analyzes six summits -- surprisingly including the meeting of Third World leaders at Bandung in 1955. The result is a compelling narrative demonstrating the power of personal diplomacy in taming Cold War conflicts. Guenter Bischof, University Research & Marshall Plan Professor of History, University of New Orleans, USA

Cold War summit diplomacy did matter and was mandatory for the survival of the planet due to the advent of the nuclear arms race. Chris Tudda's book meticulously recounts the conversations of world leaders and carefully contextualizes and analyzes six summits -- surprisingly including the meeting of Third World leaders at Bandung in 1955. The result is a compelling narrative demonstrating the power of personal diplomacy in taming Cold War conflicts. Guenter Bischof, University Research & Marshall Plan Professor of History, University of New Orleans, USA A useful survey of some of the neglected summit conferences of the Cold War and of their place in history, based on official documents. David Reynolds, Professor of International History, University of Cambridge, UK Chris Tudda's Cold War Summits is more than tales from high-level talks. It is a history of the Cold War told through the key moments when leaders of extraordinary influence and power came together to solve, or at least to discuss, the great issues of their day. These were conversations that mattered, personalities that mattered, and ultimately, moments that helped the nuclear-tinged Cold War ultimately end without the bang the world feared. Well written, well researched, and insightful throughout, Tudda's Cold War Summits belongs on every international historian's shelf. Jeffrey A. Engel, Southern Methodist University, USA

Author Information

Chris Tudda is a historian in the Department of State and Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University, USA.

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