Suggested readings to understand the Later Period of Cold War Period

Use these suggestions as background to better understand the situation of Americans during
the early period of the Cold War from the 1960s to 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
These selections are chosen for how that generation saw the period, but also historic views to
put events in perspective. These selections do not include readings specifically about the
Korean or Vietnam Wars, and Expeditionary operations of the time, which are included in their
own separate lists, but were nonetheless parts of the calculus that drove the Cold War. More so
than music or movies, these readings benefit from reflection and wider research and thus tend
to be more historically accurate.

- The Cold War: A Global History With Documents. Edward Judge. Pearson, 2010. History.
- This text provides a balanced, and comprehensive survey of the main developments in the
Cold War. Coverage traces the Cold War from its roots in East-West tensions before World
War II including the collapse of the Soviet Empire and Soviet State from 1989-1991.

- The A to Z of the Cold War. Simon Davis and Joseph Smith. Scarecrow, 2005. Military History.
- This reference book covers the Cold War chronologically, and includes hundreds of entries
on leaders, issues, conflicts, forces, weapons, and strategies. Stresses military history.

- America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1996. Walter LaFeber. McGraw-Hill, 1996. History.
- This text focuses on US and Soviet diplomacy to explain the causes and consequences of
the Cold War. It identifies major crises in the post-1945 period. The author also looks at how
the Cold War was shaped by domestic events in both the USA and Soviet Union.

- The Culture of the Cold War. Stephen Whitfield. Johns Hopkins Press, 1996. Cultural History.
- This is a history of culture in America during the Cold War and how the politics of the era
influenced entertainment, education, schools, and affected America’s national identity.

- All the President’s Men. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Simon and Schuster, 1994.
Political History.
- Although not directly associated with the Cold War, the Watergate Scandal from which
President Nixon had to resign from office, was a major event of the period and changed how
the American public viewed politics. The authors won a Pulitzer Prize for their work.

- Detente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan. Raymond L.

Garthoff. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1994. Diplomatic History
- The political history using unclassified material describes American-Soviet relations from
1969-1980. This book considers both the broader context of world politics and internal
political considerations and developments, and examines these developments.

- America’s Right Turn: From Nixon to Reagan. William Berman. John Hopkins University
Press, 1998. Political History.
- A review of American Cold War politics from 1964 to 1988 and the rise of conservatism
including racial politics, decline of labor, economic changes, and domestic politics.

- Jimmy Carter: a Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Post-Presidency. Peter Bourne.

Scribner, 1997. Biography.
- This biography tells about the change in politics after the Watergate scandal that elected
the governor from Georgia to the presidency, where he had to deal with the Soviet invasion
of Afghanistan, boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, and the Iran hostage crisis.
- We Were Soldiers Too: Serving as a Reagan Soldier During the Cold War (Volume 1). Bob
Kern, Create Space Independent Publishing, 2015. Available as an e-book.
- The first in a series of book focusing on individual soldiers who served during the Cold War,
but whose stories are rarely heard, in contrast to soldiers who fought in conflicts. This is an
account of the author’s service from 1980 to 1988 and how he became a soldier.

- We Were Soldiers Too: A Historical Look at Germany During the Cold War from the U.S.
Soldiers Who Served There (Volume 2). Bob Kern, Self-Published, 2016. Available as e-book
- These are the experiences of individual U.S. soldiers who served in Germany during the
Cold War.

- We Were Soldiers Too: The Unknown Battle to Defend the Demilitarized Zone against North
Korea during the Cold War (Volume 3). Bob Kern, Create Space Independent Publishing, 2015.
Available as an e-book.
- The third in a series, here about soldiers enforcing the Korean War armistice agreement
against an unpredictable North Korea. This is another aspect of the Cold War showing the
service of nine soldiers who served from 1962 to 1991.

- Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency. Larry Berman, ed. John Hopkins University Press,
1990. Political History.
- This history of one of the pivotal modern presidencies covers topics from relations with the
Soviets and other foreign policy, accomplishments in the economy, law and other topics as
related by various experts. It explains how America changed by the end of the Cold War.

- The Target is Destroyed. What Really Happened to Flight 007. Seymour M. Hersh. Random
House, 1986. Political History.
- The Soviet destruction in September 1983 of 269 people aboard Korean Air Lines Flight
007 was one of the most upsetting crises of the Cold War era. The U.S. and Soviet
governments immediately blamed one another for the disaster.

- Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. John Matlock. Random House, 2004.
Foreign Policy History.
- President Reagan’s Soviet advisor and later ambassador to the Soviet Union gives an
insider’s view of US-Soviet relations as Soviet Premier Gorbachev attempted to change his
country’s communism which would eventually result in its collapse and end of the Cold War.

Compiled in 2013 and updated in 2016 for the Silver Spring Veterans Memorial, PA. comments
to bouchatc@hotmail.com