ABSTRACT
The expansion of the cold war by Lyndon Johnson and the current efforts of Richard Nixon to achieve with air power and South Vietnamese mercenaries the victory denied American troops are all outgrowths of the same decisions about communism and America’s role in the world. While the cold war began in Europe, it could not be confined there, since it involved far more than a struggle with Russia over access to Eastern Europe. Radical historians see the United States as largely responsible for the onset of the cold war. In re-examining the origins of the cold war, and the perceptions and motivations of American policy makers, radical historians have helped us to understand how the United States has become an imperial, self-aggrandizing power. Engaged, literate, comprehensive, and always stimulating, it is among the best surveys of cold war history that have yet appeared.
