This book offers a major new interpretation of the Cold War and how its aftermath shaped the course of history. The history of the Cold War is more than the history of a confrontation. There is also a need to look into why the Cold War did not become more heated, and how it was finally overcome. Wilfried Loth's book examines both these issues. It is a story about the containment of the Cold War, of détente, of the development of cooperative security, and of the changes in the Soviet bloc. The book offers new information taken from Eastern and Western archives, and for the first time draws a precise and detailed overall picture of how the Cold War was overcome.

Foreword List of Abbreviations Between Neutralization and Bloc Information De-escalation of the Cold War Krushchev and Kennedy Visions Along the Way The Time of the Treaties The Decline of Détente Dark Times The End of the East-West Conflict Balance: Fear and the Ways of Freedom Notes Index

WILFRIED LOTH is Professor of Modern History at the University of Essen and Chairman of the European Union Liaison Committee of Historians. He has published widely on the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His books include The Division of the World, 1941-1955 and Stalin's Unwanted Child: The Soviet Union, the German Question and the Founding of the GDR.