Studying the Cold War is a monumental and often confusing task due to the various countries, politicians, wars, and foreign policies involved. Furthermore, Historians will find little assistance from dense textbooks or find it nearly impossible to track and incorporate the mandatory primary sources to develop his own sense of the Cold War. Luckily, David S. Painter’s text The Cold War: An International History provides an accurate and compact overview of the Cold War through a holistic historiography, reasonable methodology, and easily consumable writing style. Painter’s primary theme in writing this text appears to be that the Cold War was a convoluting framework of “political relations, economic linkages, and military alliances ” (1). Rather
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The focal point of Painter’s methodology revolves around a chronological analysis combined with an emphasis on events and structures over key individuals. This, he acknowledges is “to understand the larger contexts in which individuals acted” (3). Painter’s motive in deemphasizing key individuals provides a holistic account of the Cold War and by discussing key individuals within the context of the larger events, Painter illustrates a comprehensive, thorough account of the Cold War. This appears reasonable as the Cold War itself is a time period consisting of events and politicians rather than mere events and politicians within a vacuum. Thus, Painter’s strategy in highlighting context should work wonders in helping Historians understand the Cold War. While Painter’s straightforward and direct writing style is nothing short of eloquence at its finest and easily digestible, this brevity does injustice to complexities of the Cold War. It would be unjustified to admonish Painter for this as his motive is to ultimately review the Cold War, but in midst of other more comprehensive texts, The Cold War: An International History lacks breadth. Painter himself acknowledges by writing, “Due to the brevity of this book, I have not always found it possible to alert readers to alternative …show more content…
His belief in post revisionism will allow for students to consider the different perspectives, even though they may not be explicitly discussed, and develop their own interpretation of history. Painter’s straightforward, direct style complements this process as the only difficulty readers will find in reading the text will be related to understanding the concepts and events, not Painter’s writing. This will inevitably foster an enriching reading experience for history students as they will be able to compare Painter’s view with their own knowledge from history textbooks to propagate their overall understanding of the Cold War. As a result, students will find that The Cold War: An International History offers an extension to the knowledge they acquired throughout history courses. To conclude, Painter’s The Cold War: An International History offers an indepth and accurate review of the Cold War due to a holistic historiography centered around a post revisionist analysis and a logical methodology and accessible writing style which makes the text consumable for the intelligent reader. Finally, history students will find that Painter’s text reflects an ideal form of learning and comprehending the often confusing Cold War landscape because Painter avoids taking sides, instead allowing the Historian/Reader to form his own
The focal point of Painter’s methodology revolves around a chronological analysis combined with an emphasis on events and structures over key individuals. This, he acknowledges is “to understand the larger contexts in which individuals acted” (3). Painter’s motive in deemphasizing key individuals provides a holistic account of the Cold War and by discussing key individuals within the context of the larger events, Painter illustrates a comprehensive, thorough account of the Cold War. This appears reasonable as the Cold War itself is a time period consisting of events and politicians rather than mere events and politicians within a vacuum. Thus, Painter’s strategy in highlighting context should work wonders in helping Historians understand the Cold War. While Painter’s straightforward and direct writing style is nothing short of eloquence at its finest and easily digestible, this brevity does injustice to complexities of the Cold War. It would be unjustified to admonish Painter for this as his motive is to ultimately review the Cold War, but in midst of other more comprehensive texts, The Cold War: An International History lacks breadth. Painter himself acknowledges by writing, “Due to the brevity of this book, I have not always found it possible to alert readers to alternative …show more content…
His belief in post revisionism will allow for students to consider the different perspectives, even though they may not be explicitly discussed, and develop their own interpretation of history. Painter’s straightforward, direct style complements this process as the only difficulty readers will find in reading the text will be related to understanding the concepts and events, not Painter’s writing. This will inevitably foster an enriching reading experience for history students as they will be able to compare Painter’s view with their own knowledge from history textbooks to propagate their overall understanding of the Cold War. As a result, students will find that The Cold War: An International History offers an extension to the knowledge they acquired throughout history courses. To conclude, Painter’s The Cold War: An International History offers an indepth and accurate review of the Cold War due to a holistic historiography centered around a post revisionist analysis and a logical methodology and accessible writing style which makes the text consumable for the intelligent reader. Finally, history students will find that Painter’s text reflects an ideal form of learning and comprehending the often confusing Cold War landscape because Painter avoids taking sides, instead allowing the Historian/Reader to form his own