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Particularize Books Supposing The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War

ISBN:	0801452295 (ISBN13: 9780801452291)
Edition Language:	English

The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War Hardcover | Pages: 280 pages

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Title	:	The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War
Author	:	James Graham Wilson
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 280 pages
Published	:	February 25th 2014 by Cornell University Press (first published January 1st 2014)
Categories	:	History. Politics. Nonfiction. Cultural. Russia

Description During Books The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War

In The Triumph of Improvisation, James Graham Wilson takes a long view of the end of the Cold War, from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 to Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. Drawing on deep archival research and recently declassified papers, Wilson argues that adaptation, improvisation, and engagement by individuals in positions of power ended the specter of a nuclear holocaust. Amid ambivalence and uncertainty, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, George Shultz, George H. W. Bush, and a host of other actors engaged with adversaries and adapted to a rapidly changing international environment and information age in which global capitalism recovered as command economies failed.

Eschewing the notion of a coherent grand strategy to end the Cold War, Wilson paints a vivid portrait of how leaders made choices; some made poor choices while others reacted prudently, imaginatively, and courageously to events they did not foresee. A book about the burdens of responsibility, the obstacles of domestic politics, and the human qualities of leadership, The Triumph of Improvisation concludes with a chapter describing how George H. W. Bush oversaw the construction of a new configuration of power after the fall of the Berlin Wall, one that resolved the fundamental components of the Cold War on Washington's terms.

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Ratings: 2.91 From 102 Users | 8 Reviews

Write Up Regarding Books The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War

For a Cold War history buff like myself, I thought this was an incredibly fascinating book. I think Wilson does a great job of looking at the end of the Cold War through the four most important leaders that allowed that end to happen. In addition, I appreciate the level of detail that Wilson offers in this book because it allows you to get a sense of the times and other events that contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union. I think this book should be read by anyone who has an interest in

Wilson has crafted a concise timeline of the events that led to the collapse of Communism, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and the end of Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe. New scholarship has been brought to the story, notably, private correspondence, newly declassified documentation, and archival records.The book was easy to read, and considering that this is a scholarly work, that is quite welcome, as scholarly works often tend to be a bit dry-this book was anything but dry. It also

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.An examination of the end of the cold war, from the perspective of the state department. There is a lot of information about Alexander Haig and George Schultz, I've not seen anywhere else. I found this volume a bit muddled. The point of the book was that nobody really planned the end of the Cold War, that it just sort of happened. However, the author seems unaware that Reagan had a plan to end the cold war in 1976, and more or less followed it. Gorbachev

I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of cold war politics. This book represents very well how people's decisions can affect the world even without meaning to have the full effect that they have. This book is also good for learning about the complex person that is Ronald Reagan and not the one dimensional person presented by politicians and pundits from both the right and the left.*** I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads ***

Historian at the Department of StateHighly readable and illuminating, in The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War author James Graham Wilson (@jamesgramwilson) rejects current theories explaining the Cold Wars end and instead focuses on the actions of key individuals in both the U.S. and Soviet governments, primarily U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. In different ways,

Great book! A must read for anyone interested in Cold War's end and Reagan's, Bush's (Sr) and Gorbachev's foreign policies.

Extremely engaging, clear, and compelling. This book revolutionized my understanding of the close of the Cold War and the actions of Gorbachev, the Reagan and Bush administrations, and those of the top western allies in the 1980s. Very worthwhile.