For the Soul of Mankind

The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War

Melvyn P. Leffler

Hill and Wang

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“A highly relevant and much-needed historical study . . . One of the best books on the period to have been written.” —The Economist

To the amazement of the public, pundits, and even the policymakers themselves, the ideological and political conflict that endangered the world for half a century came to an end in 1990. How did that happen? What had caused the cold war in the first place, and why did it last as long as it did? To answer these questions, Melvyn P. Leffler homes in on four crucial episodes when American and Soviet leaders considered modulating, avoiding, or ending hostilities and asks why they failed. He then illuminates how Reagan, Bush, and, above all, Gorbachev finally extricated themselves from the policies and mind-sets that had imprisoned their predecessors, and were able to reconfigure Soviet-American relations after decades of confrontation.

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“The Cold War was a struggle for the very soul of mankind,” former president George H. W. Bush wrote a few years ago. “It was a struggle for a way of life.”1
A decade ago, when I began work on this book, I would not have thought that I would come to view the Cold War in this manner. In 1989 and 1990, when I was finishing a book on the Truman administration’s national security policies, I had been stunned by contemporary developments. Free governments arose in Eastern Europe.

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Praise for For the Soul of Mankind

“[A] sweeping work . . . Leffler is one of America’s most distinguished cold war historians, and this enlightening, readable study is the product of years of research and reflection.” —Jonathan Rosenberg, The Christian Science Monitor

“A masterful account of the Cold War by a distinguished historian in full stride . . . This important book will enlighten and sophisticate the debate on the Cold War, even if it will not end the discussion.” —G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

“A scintillating account of the forces that constrained Soviet and American leaders in the second half of the 20th century . . . Possibly the most readable and insightful study of the Cold War yet.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"With a keen eye for telling detail, a concern for the choices of individual leaders, and careful judgments, Leffler generates a narrative that carries the reader along as it develops important new ideas. This landmark study transcends many of our standard arguments about the Cold War to focus on what it was really about. Driving much of the maneuvering for security and advantage was the struggle over which political system could meet people’s needs and produce a better society."  —Robert Jervis, Columbia University

"This is a lively and very wise book on the Cold War from its beginning to its end. Concentrating on five critical intervals in the history of Soviet-American rivalry, Melvyn P. Leffler, one of the West’s leading authorities on U.S. foreign policy, mines a wealth of new sources for this fresh and stimulating analysis of Cold War crises. The portraits of Cold War leaders, both Soviet and American, are convincingly and elegantly drawn. As illustrated by Leffler, their travails and successes demonstrate how important leadership is in maintaining peace in an unstable world."  —Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University

"Melvyn Leffler does an excellent job of surveying key phases of the Cold War. His analytical perspective, emphasizing both structure and agency, is illuminating throughout. The book is sophisticated and erudite but also engagingly written and lively. For the Soul of Mankind will appeal to general readers as well as to experts and university students, and will be a standard text in classes dealing with the Cold War." —Mark Kramer, Harvard University
 
"There will never be a last word on why the Cold War began and why it ended, but Mel Leffler’s book is certainly the latest word—based on accumulated American and now Soviet sources. Leffler avoids the pitfalls of the older revisionism, which blamed the U.S. for the conflict, and of Cold War triumphalism, which saw the Soviet Union’s collapse as testimony to American steadfastness in the face of Soviet obduracy. His is a story of two nations whose leaders, haunted by very different fears of a recurrent past, at crucial junctures perpetuated the conflict and made it insoluble. The Cold War ended, finally, when two remarkable men, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, were able to recognize what was unfounded in their fears of each other." —John B. Judis, author of The Folly of Empire
 
“For the Soul of Mankind is without question the most evenhanded book on the Cold War to appear, and it is unlikely to be surpassed. Apart from its intrinsic interest, it is highly relevant to our contemporary travails because it challenges the unfortunate and inaccurate notion that during the Cold War the display of military power was somehow productive of a safer world. Indeed, it was not until one far-seeing leader walked away from the military contest that people across the globe could breathe more freely.” —Carolyn Eisenberg, Truthdig

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About the Author

Melvyn P. Leffler

Melvyn P. Leffler, Stettinius Professor of American History at the University of Virginia, is the author The Specter of Communism (H&W, 1994) and A Preponderance of Power. He lives in Charlottesville.

Melvyn P. Leffler

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For the Soul of Mankind
The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War
Melvyn P. Leffler
Award

American Historical Association George Louis Beer Prize

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hill and Wang
September 2008
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780374531423
ISBN10: 0374531420
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 608 pages, Includes 47 Black-and-White Illustrations, 6 Maps, Notes, a Bibliography, and an Index
$20.00
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Hardcover

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Hardcover
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hill and Wang
September 2007
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780809097173
ISBN10: 0809097176
6 x 9 inches, 608 pages, 47 Black-and-White Illustrations/6 Maps/Notes/Bibliography/Index
$35.00

e-Book Agency

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e-Book Agency
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hill and Wang
September 2008
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429964098
ISBN10: 142996409X
608 pages, Includes 47 Black-and-White Illustrations, 6 Maps, Notes, a Bibliography, and an Index
$9.99
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