The Cold War: Postrevisionism

The term “cold war” has long referred to American-Soviet relations since the Second World War, but beyond that there has been little consistency in its usage, even on how to set it in type. When capitalized, “the Cold War” usually means the period of maximum hostility between the superpowers nearly 30 years ago and the events leading up to it. Some writers regard the conflict as having lasted until the Nixon-Kissinger détente of the early ’70s, only to break out anew with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 or the rhetorical belligerence of the Reagan administration in the past two years. Others write in lowercase of “the cold war,” treating it as a more or less permanent condition in the...