Christopher Coker
Most Of Us Survived
The Cold War
By John Lewis Gaddis
Allen Lane The Penguin Press 333pp £20
‘A frightful queerness has come into life,’ wrote H G Wells in his last published work. Perhaps, the most frightful thing about life in 1945 was that it did not seem queer enough. The world had grown used to war. It was Wells's generation that seemed naïve in ever thinking that war could be fought to end war itself. In the ruins of Europe following the fall of the Third Reich, Wells seemed confirmed in his conviction that war would never end, unless that is war itself extinguished the human race. ‘There is no way out or around or through the impasse... It is the end,’ he concluded despairingly.
In this strikingly clear and sober work the great doyen of Cold War historians, John Lewis Gaddis, begins with another voice of the time, one almost as despairing. It is that of the 43-year-old Eric Blair, or George Orwell. In 1946, the year that Wells died, he rented a house
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk