Anatomy of Mistrust: U.S.-Soviet Relations during the Cold War

by Deborah Welch Larson

Book Overview

The United States and the Soviet Union missed numerous diplomatic opportunities to resolve differences and control the arms race because neither state trusted the other, according to Deborah Welch Larson. In Anatomy of Mistrust, she shows that the goals of Soviet and U.S. leaders were frequently complementary, and an agreement should have been attainable. Lost opportunities contributed to bankruptcy for the Soviet Union, serious damage to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801486823
• ISBN13: 9780801486821
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Provocative for those interested in U.S.- Soviet Relations

Professor Larson is a gifted author who has meticulously combed through literally hundreds of sources to illuminate a pattern of foreign policy frequently characterized by mistrust, and, more importantly, missed opportunities. This book should not be mistaken for a revisionist historian's attempt to re-write the past with the advantage of hindsight. Further scrutiny will reveal it to be a compelling depiction of world events through the lens of social psychology. World leaders are human and humans make decisions both rational, based on facts and logic, and sometimes irrational, based on schemas and episodic scripts. For those interested in the history and psychology of the decisions that led up to the Cold War, check out this author's earlier work, Origins of Containment