Review by Booklist Review
The U.S. and Russia have been rivals, if not adversaries, since the early twentieth century. In War of Nerves, Sixsmith examines the reasons why the relationship between the two countries has been--and is--so fraught, citing a number of both similarities and distinct differences as the root causes. The similarities include the fact that both countries are very large geographically, with a strong expansionist mindset. The differences are more pronounced, in fact even diametrically opposed. The U.S. has always championed the individual and, since its founding, has had a strong distrust of centralized authority. Russia, on the other hand, devalues the individual in favor of more collectivist social structures centered around a strong, autocratic authority figure, be it the Tsar or Putin. Sixsmith explores how these and other issues have informed the historical interactions between the two countries from WWII to Reagan and beyond, and how conflicts between the two could possibly be resolved--or could possibly be perpetually inevitable. These insights are especially relevant given recent developments.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Novelist and reporter Sixsmith (Russia) deconstructs the psychology of the Cold War in this revelatory history. Detailing the Berlin Airlift, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and other showdowns, Sixsmith masterfully juxtaposes high-level gamesmanship between U.S. and Soviet leaders--Stalin had an edge over the declining Roosevelt; Khrushchev underestimated a cautious John F. Kennedy--with the psychological warfare directed at civilians. The space race, which saw the U.S.S.R. put animals and humans in orbit around the Earth and U.S. astronauts set foot on the moon, captivated the two countries while stoking fears of nuclear armageddon. To prevent panic, American leaders "downplayed the physical and psychological threat of the bomb" and fostered the illusion that citizens could survive a surprise attack in build-it-yourself shelters. In the Soviet Union, the government insisted on a "monolithic artistic style"; artists who veered away from social realism or criticized the state were persecuted. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Sixsmith contends, ordinary Russians had cultivated a "learned helplessness," while U.S. elites prematurely celebrated the triumph of "American values" and failed to soothe Russian fears that NATO posed an existential threat. Fluid prose and astute, timely analysis into the history behind Vladimir Putin's "restorative nostalgia" make this a vital study of world affairs. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Sixsmith (Russia: A 1,000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East) delivers a gripping interpretation of Cold War diplomacy, culture, and politics through the lens of psychology. Drawing on scholarly sources, recently declassified documents, and his experiences as a BBC foreign correspondent in Moscow in the 1980s, Sixsmith shows how the Cold War both reflected and accentuated the mental processes and national psyches of hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the Soviet and Anglo American confrontation. Like countless analysts before him, he contrasts Russia's centuries of collectivism with American individualism and explores the Soviet Union's inferiority complex relative to Western prosperity and progress. More insightful is his depiction of the U.S. and USSR as doppelgangers, with both nations devolving into Cold War "paroxysm[s] of paranoia and conspiratorial thinking." Each was convinced that their archrival was pursuing world domination, each projecting its own fears and suspicions onto the other, and each waging worldwide psychological warfare to win hearts and minds, while sowing doubts and discord among its rival's supporters. This vicious cycle faltered with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, only to resurge under authoritarian Russian president Vladimir Putin. VERDICT A shrewd and remarkably timely examination of Cold War mentalities.--Michael Rodriguez
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An intriguing new history about how the Cold War was primarily a conflict of psychology. Sixsmith, who reported on Russia for the BBC during the 1980s, delves into the psychological issues of the time, especially the thinking of the leaders and the reactions of ordinary people. He believes that the two sides continually failed to comprehend each other's beliefs and motivations, seeing themselves as morally superior and the other as the font of all evil. The Americans never grasped the nexus between communist ideology and the Russian cultural tradition of centralized power, and Soviet leaders always believed that the U.S. was controlled by a secret cabal of billionaires and generals. This lack of understanding was crucial given the nuclear arsenals involved. "The inherent flaw of brinkmanship is to assume that each side agrees where the brink is," writes the author. "But as Washington and Moscow pushed each other into increasingly aggressive stances, it was never completely clear that the Soviets and Americans truly knew where or when the tipping point might come." To build popular support, the two superpowers churned out propaganda, particularly cinema. Sixsmith notes that Vladimir Putin decided to join the KGB after seeing a movie about secret agent Belov, a Soviet version of James Bond. However, the essential weakness of autocracy is that it cannot renew itself through self-criticism or elections. Eventually, in the long decay of the Brezhnev era, there was no way to match the Soviet regime's message of prosperity and freedom with the lived reality. Russians simply ceased to believe in socialism, as the author's chapter on the jokes of the period reveals. The U.S., for all its deficiencies, has retained many of its core beliefs. Sixsmith covers a great deal of territory, and the text is long and often dense. But there are useful lessons for the current geopolitical landscape, and the author's essential point--know yourself in order to know the Other--is as valuable as ever. An original analysis of a crucial period of history, providing important context for the present. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
