Reviews for Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary

The average rating for Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-26 00:00:00 Lynn Robinson Well written, this is not so much a biography of Khrushchev as it is a record of the Cold War from the perspective of his administration. As such, it took me back to events (mostly) dimly recollected from childhood such as the missile and space races, the Laotian crisis, the Berlin crises, the Cuban crises, the Lumumba assassination, the formation of the UAR and, more positively, Khrushchev's visit to middle America. Personally, probably influenced by that visit, I saw him as a somewhat avuncular figure. As represented herein, Khrushchev comes across as a convinced Marxist-Leninist who genuinely believed that, with arms control, the Soviet Union could actually catch up with the USA as regards the standard of living. Sadly, that was not to be, arms control not going much beyond the Limited Test Ban Treaty and Soviet resources being drained in its often futile attempts to play military catch up and to curry favor with the Third World. Happily, however, the three principal executives of the period, Khrushchev, Eisenhower and Kennedy, come across as rational men, none of them intent on eliminating their geopolitical rival.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-01 00:00:00 Amanda Lenz ALEKSANDR FURSENKO'S and TIMOTHY NAFTALI'S KHRUSCHEV'S COLD WAR is one of the best books written on the Soviet leaders life in recent years and incorporates many newly declassified documents to present a new and detailed account on the Soviet leaders life. It is mostly a book about his time in charge during the cold war. The authors do not go back into his childhood or spend much time following his leaving power. It is a political and diplomatic history of his life looking at his failures and accomplishments while in charge of the Soviet Union. It furthers what most researchers on Russia have found recently that if ever the term paper tiger applied, it was to Soviet Russia. Khrushchev made the best of his lack of economic resources and tired to compete as a power on the world stage with few economic developments and a falling standard of living for the Russian people which he constantly worried about. From Hungary to the Cuban Missile Crises with Berlin, southeast Asia and the middle east inbetween this book covers the salient moments in his career with lucid detail and thoughtful analysis. For those who want to learn more about this time in the Soviet Union's history and more about the man who dominated it this is an excellent book to start with