Book & podcast collection

Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War

byKen Adelman

Ken Adelman recounts the dramatic 1986 summit in Reykjavik, where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev came unexpectedly close to eliminating nuclear weapons. As a participant, Adelman reconstructs private sessions, strategic disagreements, personalities, and the dispute over missile defense that prevented a final agreement. Although the meeting appeared to fail, its proposals helped produce later arms-control breakthroughs and changed the direction of the Cold War. The book presents diplomacy as a high-risk encounter in which bold ideas, preparation, trust, and refusal can matter simultaneously, reshaping history even without a signed deal.

Publisher

Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Publication date

2014

Format

Print edition

Pages

375

ISBN

9780062310194