Book Reviews : A History of the Cold War. By KENNETH INGRAM. (New York: The Philosophical Library. 1955. Pp. 239. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900121
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Author: D.F. Fleming
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

184

ter

on

&dquo;Rural

and

Urban

Self-Government

in

Southeast

Asia&dquo;

is

an

excep.

tionally

competent

study

of

practicing

representative

bodies

and

their

prob-

lems.

This

book

serves

the

useful

purpose

of

breaking

ground

in

a

relatively

new

field.

Many

detailed

studies

will

have

to

be

made

before

an

adequately

comprehensive

work

can

be

written.

University

of

California,

Berkeley.

STANLEY

MARON.

A

History

of

the

Cold War.

By

KENNETH

INGRAM.

(New

York:

The

Philosophical

Library.

1955.

Pp.

239.

$5.00.)

The

author

has

previously

published

fourteen

books

in

Britain,

includ.

.

ing

Years

o

f Crisis,

a

history

of

World

War

II.

This

book

is

the

precursor

of

many

histories

of

the

Cold

War.

As

such

it

will

not

be

widely

welcomed

in

the

United

States,

since

it

questions

the

necessity

for

the

mighty

struggle

which

has

shaken

the

world

for

ten

years,

and

rejects

some

of

the

foundations

upon

which

our

side

of

it

was

built

Ingram

does

not

believe

that

the

case

for

the

Soviet-world-conquest

thesis

is

proved.

He

cites

many

considerations

which

look

in

the

other

direction,

among

them

the

proposition

that

Russia’s

large

armed

forces

may

be

regarded

as

a

defensive

measure,

if

our

own

preparations

are;

the

relation

to

the

arms

race

of

the

American

refusal

to

share

atomic

secrets;

the

Western

challenge

of

Soviet

arrangements

in

East

Europe,

while

exclud-

ing

the

U.S.S.R.

from

any

effective

voice

in

Japan;

the

dramatic

cleavage

of

the

world

in

Churchill’s

Fulton

speech;

the

ejection

of

Russia

from

Iran

and

the

prompt

entry

of

the

United

States

into

that

country;

the

belligerent

nature

of

Ernest

Bevin’s

statesmanship;

and

the

failure

to

use

Soviet

mili-

tary

force

against

Tito’s

defection. ’

On

the

three

crucial

cases

which

stirred

so

much

fear

in

the

West,

he

finds

the

evidence

of

Soviet

aggressiveness

unconvincing.

Long

before

the

Communist

seizure

of

Czechoslovakia,

in

1948,

the

Cold

War

had

become

a

matter

of

&dquo;reaction

and

counter-reaction,&dquo;

with

each

side

acting

defensively

in

consolidating

its

zones,

certain

of

the

aggressive

intent

of

the

other.

The

Berlin

blockade

had

been

preceded

by

the

Western

creation

of

another

German

state

with

a

new

capital,

and

by

evidence’of

intent

to

rearm

West

Germany.

The

complicity

of

the

Soviets

in

the

North

Korean

invasion

of

South

Korea,

while

suspected,

has

not

been

proved.

The

author

is

emphatic

in

condemning

the

use

of

the

United

Nations

in

the

Korean

affair:

its

refusal

ever

to

hear

the

North

Korean

case;

its

passing

over

from

police

action

in

behalf

of

South

Korea

into

partisanship

with

her

in

war

on

North

Korea;

its

condemnation

of

China

for

acting

illegally,

after