James E. Cronin, The World The Cold War Made. Order, Chaos and the Return
of History (New York and London: Routledge, 1996, £15.99). Pp. 344. ISBN
0 0415 90821 3.Richard M. Fried, The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Pageantry and Patriotism in Cold War America (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998, £25.00). Pp. 220. ISBN 0 19 507020 8.Michael J. Hogan, A Cross of Iron. Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the
National Security State, 1945–1954 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998, £25.00). Pp. 554. ISBN 0 521 64044 x.Michael Kort (ed.), The Columbia Guide to the Cold War (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1999, £32.00). Pp. 366. ISBN 0 231 10772 2.Joseph M. Siracusa, Into the Dark House. American Diplomacy and the Ideological
Origins of the Cold War (Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 1998, $36.95 cloth,
$14.95 paper). Pp. 288. ISBN 0 941690 81 4, 0 941690 80 6.There was a time not so long ago when it seemed that there was nothing new to
be written about the origins of the Cold War. The topic appeared to have
become stale, with the same battles being refought, along familiar lines. Cold War studies have not abated, however, and indeed have been reinvigorated by a
number of developments. The writer on American involvement in the Cold War
now has to consider how to integrate Eastern bloc material into their work, and
the developing theses of scholars from other Western nations, and from within
the US to respond to the prevailing intellectual trend in much of academia to
focus on ideology, culture and discourse.
