• Up-to-date and comprehensive - deals with the whole period from 1945 to the present day and is organised both by region and subject.
• Will suit many post-war history modules as well as serving as background for International Relations modules.
• The text draws on the latest research to make students aware of the different controversies and debates.
• Careful attention is paid to the evolution of the global economy and the interplay between international and domestic developments, as well as to the growth of 'interdependence'.
• Particular attention is paid to the United States, especially in the 1990s when it became the world's only Superpower.
• Overviews are provided of each of the six chronological sections - these provide a concise and analytical framework.
• Includes learning aids such as boxed chronologies, biographies of key figures, crucial documents, maps and a bibliography.

Readership: Undergraduate students studying International Relations or World History Since 1945.

John W. Young, Chair of International History , University of Nottingham, and John Kent, Reader in International Relations, LSE

Part I
Origins and Early Development of the Cold War 1945-53
1: Tensions in the Grand Alliance 1945-46
2: Two Worlds: East and West 1945-48
3: Empire, Cold War and Decolonisation 1945-53
4: The Cold War Intensifies: Containment Superseded 1948-53
Part II
The Cold War: Crisis and Change 1953-62
5: Soviet-America Relations: Avoiding Hot Water and the Search for Stability
6: Maintaining the Spheres of Influence
7: Fighting the Cold War: The Offensive Strategies
8: Collapsing Empires: The Cold War Battle for Hearts and Minds 1953-63
Part III
The cold War of Peaceful CoExistence and the Rise of Multipolarity 1963-71
9: The Eastern and Western Blocs in the 1960s
10: The Vietnam War
11: Other Regional Conflicts
Part IV
The Détente Era 1971-80
12: An Era of Negotiations, 1971-73
13: Stagflation and the Trials of Détente
14: Détente in Decline, 1976-79
15: The Return to Confrontation, 1979-80
Part V
From Confrontation to Communist Collapse, 1981-89
16: Middle East Conflicts in the 1980s
17: Instability in Latin America
18: The Decline of the Cold War, 1985-89
Part VI
The Post-Cold War World Since 1990
20: Europe and the Former Soviet Union
21: US predominance and the Post-Cold War Disorder
22: Stability and Instability in the Developing World
Conclusion