The world since 1945 - P. M. H. Bell

What turned decolonization from a trickle to a torrent? How did a scarcely industrialized country, North Vietnam, overcome the might of a superpower? How did that same superpower win the Cold War (or why did the Soviet Union lose it?) What is the link between Third World debt and the Arab-Israeli conflict? Why are the issues at the heart of that Middle Eastern conflict so intractable? Why and how, in short, has the world in which we all find ourselves come to have its present complexion?



Philip Bell's bold, wide-ranging history of international relations in the period from the Second World War to the close of the Cold War succeeds admirably as a guide in searching for answers. It deals with complicated matters as straightforwardly as possible, yet never draws a veil over complex realities. Its main drive is an interlocking explanation of events and their context, with pauses at certain points to reflect on some of the key concepts that have dominated our thinking on international history during this period: the Cold War, Detente and the Third World.



The World since 1945 challenges us to understand better what happened when and why in the past half century, and shows how decisions or events or outcomes of the past can continue to exercise the most profound, sometime surprising, influence today.