Ultimately, they defeated a powerful adversary peacefully, decisively, and without disfiguring their own nation beyond recognition.
They racked up impressive achievements and committed grievous errors along the way. They devised generational strategies while responding to crises and surprises.
officials grappled with a dangerous adversary in the ambiguous space between peace and war. This essay is adapted from The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today by Hal Brands (Yale University Press, 328 pp., $32.50, January 2022).ĭuring the Cold War, competition was a way of life. This essay is adapted from The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today by Hal Brands (Yale University Press, 328 pp.
