Briefly reviews conventional reasoning about the start of the Cold War. Describes contemporary revisionist views of the Cold War and the reasons they arose. Maintains that American leaders exaggerated the Soviet ideological and military threat, spurring an American arms build-up which ultimately led to the present-day arms race. (JDH)

Presents an incisive overview of the historical writing concerning the Spanish-American War by U.S. historians. Summarizes and comments on some of the seminal works by Walter LaFeber, Paul Kennedy, and Louis A. Perez. Their works consider the conflict from the perspectives of international relations, domestic politics, and various ideologies. (MJP)

Provides an insightful look at the administrative and negotiative processes that accompanied the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Although John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev both worked to avoid nuclear war, the stress and exhaustion of the negotiating process created serious blunders. Eventually both sides backed away from nuclear annihilation. (MJP)