It’s basically a retelling of the cold war that focuses on economic factors over individual actors. It makes the case that the cold war ended as a ‘race to break promises’, many countries needed to figure out ways to implement austerity at the time for economic reasons. It goes into the difficulties state socialism had implementing their version, perestroika, and relative ease of implementing neoliberalism in democratic capitalism. The book is very well sourced, so it gives insight into these conversations of people like Gorbachev, Thatcher, Honecker, Jaruzelski, Reagan, etc, and their advisors. The typical narrative I had learned before reading this placed emphasis on individual actors like Reagan or Gorbachev, but this economic view gives a story that feels much more comprehensive.
“The Triumph of Broken Promises” by Fritz Bartel
It’s basically a retelling of the cold war that focuses on economic factors over individual actors. It makes the case that the cold war ended as a ‘race to break promises’, many countries needed to figure out ways to implement austerity at the time for economic reasons. It goes into the difficulties state socialism had implementing their version, perestroika, and relative ease of implementing neoliberalism in democratic capitalism. The book is very well sourced, so it gives insight into these conversations of people like Gorbachev, Thatcher, Honecker, Jaruzelski, Reagan, etc, and their advisors. The typical narrative I had learned before reading this placed emphasis on individual actors like Reagan or Gorbachev, but this economic view gives a story that feels much more comprehensive.