The Longman Companion to Cold War and Detente, 1941-91

Book excerpt: It contains a major Chronology, set out in 12 stages, which draws together all the different aspects and theatres of the Cold War into a single 'narrative'; concise accounts of 70 Crises and Conflicts, and their significance; notes on 28 Conferences and Summits; notes on 40 Treaties and Organizations; lists and dates of the key Office-holders in the USA, USSR, China, Great Britain, France, (West) Germany, the United Nations and NATO; concise Biographies of 103 major political figures of the Cold War; a Glossary of terms; statistical data on the US/Soviet balance of Strategic nuclear weapons 1956-79; and an extended annotated Bibliography. Though centred on the international policies of the USA and the USSR, the book throws light on almost every aspect of postwar international history from the rise of Mao's China to the fall of the Warsaw Pact, ranging from Vietnam to Angola, from Afghanistan to Cuba, from Margaret Thatcher to Kim II Sung.