From the award-winning historian and author of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky, a riveting account of how the Cold War came to an end.



An acclaimed examination of the latter years of the Cold War, from one of the finest historians of modern Russia.

‘Absorbingly written . . . this book is destined to become a classic of Cold War historical literature’ – International Affairs

After decades of struggles between the USSR and the US over every aspect of security, economics and ideas, the Cold War had seemed like a permanent fixture in global politics. No Western or Soviet politician foresaw that the stand-off would end in their lifetimes, and even the 1985 election of Mikhail Gorbachëv did little to quell the fear of global nuclear Armageddon.

But just four years later, the Berlin Wall was dismantled and perestroika spread throughout the former Soviet bloc. It was a sea change in world history, which resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Drawing on a wealth of pioneering archival research, The End of the Cold War is a gripping investigation into these final years. A story of American pressure and Soviet long-term decline and over-stretch, it pinpoints the astonishing relationships between President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachëv, Secretary of State George Shultz and the USSR's last Foreign Affairs Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, who found a way to cooperate during times of extraordinary change around the world. A small, skillful group of statesmen, they were determined to end the Cold War on their watch, irreversibly transforming the global geopolitical landscape.

In true Robert Service style – authoritative, compelling and meticulously researched – this is political history at its best.

‘Our leading historian of the Soviet Union . . . magisterial’ – The Observer