A concise history of the world since 1945: states and peoples

Intro -- Contents -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- TIMELINE -- INTRODUCTION: DYNAMIC TENSIONS IN RECENT GLOBAL HISTORY -- Part I: From bipolar to multipolar world -- 1: THE COLD WAR IN GLOBAL CONTEXT, 1945-1991 -- TRIUMPH AND DISQUIET: THE HUMAN PROSPECT IN 1945 -- The fragile West -- Democracy on the defensive -- An optimistic view -- A pessimistic view -- The eclipse of Europe -- Intellectual disquiet -- EARLY SUPERPOWER TENSIONS -- A second front -- Eastern Europe -- Deepening Western suspicions -- The communist perspective -- The German dilemma -- The Marshall Plan -- The Truman Doctrine -- Berlin airlift -- NATO -- The nuclear arms race -- EXPANDING THE CIRCLE OF CONFLICT -- Communism in China -- Korean domino -- Red Scare -- Southeast Asia -- Washington intervenes -- An undeclared war -- Sino-Soviet split -- THE KHRUSHCHEV ERA, 1955-1964 -- Crackdown in Hungary -- The Berlin Wall -- To the brink: Cuba -- FROM DETENTE TO DENOUEMENT -- Seeking a way out -- Limiting weapons -- Soviet weaknesses -- Detente in shambles -- Gorbachev and Reagan -- POWER AND PRINCIPLE -- 2: THE END OF EMPIRE AND THE PROBLEM OF NEOCOLONIALISM -- DECOLONIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS -- Neocolonialism -- Empire as anachronism -- World War II as catalyst -- THE SOUTH ASIAN PRECEDENT -- Colonial legacies -- India and the world wars -- The tragedy of partition -- Enduring conflict -- Nonalignment -- Strategic reversals -- Democracy and development -- AFRICA'S HOPE AND MISFORTUNE -- Nationalist leaders -- The roots of instability -- Early prospects -- African commonalities? -- Ugandan xenophobia -- Kenya, Rhodesia, and white settlement -- French Algeria -- Apartheid in South Africa -- From independence to chaos -- Forced retreat: Portugal -- Ethnicity and the nation-state -- ANTICOLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST -- Israel -- Egypt and the Arab leadership -- SOUTHEAST ASIA.