The War of Nerves, Martin Sixsmith
The War of Nerves, Martin Sixsmith
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The War of Nerves
Inside the Cold War Mind

Author: Martin Sixsmith

Narrator: Kris Dyer

Unabridged: 26 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Profile Audio

Published: 11/25/2021

Synopsis

More than any other conflict, the Cold War was fought on the battlefield of the human mind. And, nearly thirty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its legacy still endures - not only in our politics, but in our own thoughts, and fears.

Drawing on a vast array of untapped archives and unseen sources, Martin Sixsmith vividly recreates the tensions and paranoia of the Cold War, framing it for the first time from a psychological perspective. Revisiting towering personalities like Khrushchev, Kennedy and Nixon, as well as the lives of the unknown millions who were caught up in the conflict, this is a gripping account of fear itself - and in today's uncertain times, it is more resonant than ever.

About Martin Sixsmith

Martin Sixsmith was educated at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he worked for the BBC as the Corporation’s correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw.  From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the government as  Director of Communications and Press Secretary.  Martin is now a writer, presenter and journalist, living in London. He is the author of two novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh, and several works of non-fiction, including Philomena, first published in 2009 as The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rob on August 13, 2022

The psychology of nuclear brinkmanship that terrified a generation The author shares many illustrative anecdotes from his time as a prominent journalist in Russia. He fills the book with fascinating insights into the psychology of one of the most uncertain periods in world history. Sixsmith reminds us......more

Goodreads review by David on April 25, 2022

Like others of my generation born in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis, spending my youth under the shadow of Mutually Assured Destruction and seeing the fall of the USSR in the late 1980s. This book revisits a part of history that I tried my hardest not to think about whilst living through it.......more

Goodreads review by Rob on June 03, 2022

This is a very informative book tracing the Cold War from the end of WW2 up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and an Afterward which takes us up to the annexation of Crimea - nicely anticipating the Ukraine invasion which took place presumably a few weeks after the book was written. The book is qu......more

Goodreads review by Rafał on May 29, 2022

Fantastic book!......more

Goodreads review by Ronald on August 29, 2024

If you are interested in Cold War history, this book brings a unique perspective: the psychology of this event, and how it shaped people’s long-term thinking. The author writes in the Preface: this book proposes to examine – is the way this extraordinary period shaped not just the experiences but the......more

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