We tend to think of the Cold War as a clash of two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, born out of the ashes of World War II and coming to a dramatic end with the collapse of the U.S.S.R. But here, Odd Arne Westad offers a new perspective on a worldwide struggle in which young people from Hollywood to Hanoi truly felt that they were fighting for the future. Tracing the Cold War back to the Industrial Revolution, Westad argues that the conflict has had its deepest reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every community had to choose sides—and these choices continue to define economies and regimes across the world.

"This is an enormous story, and [Westad] tackles it with admirable clarity and elegance.... A tremendous and timely history lesson for our age."—Kirkus Reviews