The Cold War and the new imperialism : a global history, 1945 - 2005 / Henry Heller

Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-345) and index

Introduction--- The cold war begins--- Decolonization--- The postwar boom and De-Stalinization--- Latin America: from populism to revolution--- The Vietnam War and the Upheavals of the 1960s.--- From revolution to Neoliberalism. --- The United States wins the Cold War--- Toward Empire--- Conclusion

The Cold War and the New Imperialism is a fascinating account of global history since 1945 that brings together the massive changes in world politics, economics, and society in a single narrative while illuminating and clarifying the dilemmas of the present. In the sixty-year period since the end of World War II, the world has indeed been remade. The war itself mobilized the political and social aspirations of hundreds of millions of people; and the contest between the United States and the Soviet Union for global dominance drew every country into its field of force. Struggles for national liberation in the Third World brought an end to colonial empires. Revolutions in China, Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere shook the global order, as did the failed uprisings in Paris and Prague." "The Cold War and the New Imperialism is an accessible, serious survey that begins with the construction of the Berlin Wall, at the end of World War II, and ends with the present-day U.S. occupation of Iraq. Heller's study of the Cold War and its aftermath covers the United States and Europe, Latin American revolutionary movements, Africa and decolonization, the Vietnam War and upheavals of the 1960s, neoliberalism, intervention and more. His analysis shows that the end of the Cold War has created as many problems for the world's remaining superpower, the United States, as it has solved. With its political, economic, and financial hegemony eroding, the United States has responded with military adventures abroad and increasing inequality and authoritarianism at home. The Cold War and the New Imperialism draws all these threads together and shows vividly that the end of history is not yet in sight.