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Home / Periods / Cold War and Post-war Era

Period

Cold War and Post-war Era

1945–present

The Cold War and post-war era began after World War II. Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union shaped nuclear strategy, espionage, propaganda, proxy wars and divided Europe until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, while decolonisation and new international institutions transformed the wider world.

The consequences continued after the Cold War through regional conflict, political transition, the legacy of surveillance and dictatorship, and unresolved divisions created during the post-war settlement. This gateway therefore includes both the Cold War proper and closely connected post-1991 aftermaths.

Fiction associated with this period includes espionage, divided loyalties, proxy wars, defectors, nuclear fear, life behind the Iron Curtain and novels about political violence, social change and the long shadow of World War II.

Related people for Cold War and Post-war Era

Adolf Hitler1889–1945 Airey Neave1916–1979 Aleksandr Georgievich Kotikov1902–1981 Alois Podhajsky1898–1973 Anthony Blunt1907–1983 Bernard Montgomery1887–1976 Bertolt Brecht1898–1956 Charles de Gaulle1890–1970 Christopher Okigbo1932–1967 Christopher Wood1901–1930 Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu1933–2011 David Lloyd George1863–1945 Diana, Princess of Wales1961–1997 Donald Maclean1913–1983 Dwight D. Eisenhower1890–1969 Edward VII1841–1910 Edward VIII1894–1972 Eleanor Roosevelt1884–1962 Elizabeth II1926–2022 Ernest Hemingway1899–1961 Erwin Rommel1891–1944 Francis Haskell1928–2000 Frank L. Howley1903–1993 Franklin D. Roosevelt1882–1945 Georges Braque1882–1963 George VI1895–1952 Grigori Rasputin1869–1916 Guy Burgess1911–1963 Haile Selassie1892–1975 Harry S. Truman1884–1972 Heinrich Himmler1900–1945 Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener1850–1916 Ho Chi Minh1890–1969 Howard Triest1923–2016 Ian Fleming1908–1964 Jeremy Wolfenden1934–1965 John Cairncross1913–1995 John F. Kennedy1917–1963 Jomo Kenyatta1893–1978 Joseph Chamberlain1836–1914 Joseph McCarthy1908–1957 Joseph Stalin1878–1953 Kim Philby1912–1988 Larissa Salmina-Haskell1931–2024 Leopoldo Galtieri1926–2003 Liang Qichao1873–1929 Lu Xun1881–1936 Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948 Mao Zedong1893–1976 Margaret Thatcher1925–2013 Martin Bormann1900–1945 Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968 Medgar Evers1925–1963 Menelik II1844–1913 Mikhail Gorbachev1931–2022 Mohammad Hatta1902–1980 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi1919–1980 Neville Chamberlain1869–1940 Nicholas II of Russia1868–1918 Nikita Khrushchev1894–1971 Nnamdi Azikiwe1904–1996 Otto von Bismarck1815–1898 Pablo Picasso1881–1973 Patrice Lumumba1925–1961 Paul Kruger1825–1904 Richard Hillary1919–1943 Ronald Reagan1911–2004 Ruhollah Khomeini1902–1989 Subhas Chandra Bose1897–1945 Sukarno1901–1970 Victoria1819–1901 Virginia Woolf1882–1941 Vladimir Lenin1870–1924 Wallis Simpson1896–1986 William Randolph Hearst1863–1951 Winston Churchill1874–1965 Yakubu Gowonborn 1934

Series

Series about Cold War and Post-war Era (4 series)

Thalia, Texas and Duane Moore in Order

by Larry McMurtry 7 books 4.3(9,692)

The Thalia novels follow several generations of characters in a fictional north Texas town as ranching, oil wealth and small-town institutions decline or change. Horseman, Pass By, Leaving Cheyenne and The Last Picture Show establish a community shaped by frustrated ambition, damaged families and limited opportunities. The Last…

The Smiler Trilogy in Order

by Victor Canning 3 books 4.3(465)

The Smiler Trilogy follows Samuel “Smiler” Miles, a fifteen-year-old boy who escapes from an approved school after being wrongly convicted of theft. Unable to clear his name until his seafaring father returns, Smiler survives by moving through rural Britain, finding temporary work and relying on his knowledge of…

Hector Cross in Order

by Wilbur Smith 3 books 4.2(27,360)

The Hector Cross thrillers follow a former SAS officer and private security specialist through modern kidnapping, terrorism and revenge plots. Those in Peril, Vicious Circle and Predator are contemporary action novels and therefore remain without historical-context relationships.

Rex Carver Mysteries in Order

by Victor Canning 4 books 3.9(738)

The Rex Carver Mysteries comprise four first-person thrillers published between 1965 and 1968. Rex Carver is a London private investigator whose apparently routine commissions repeatedly draw him into the work of intelligence officers, international criminals and politically connected clients. His secretary Hilda Wilkins provides practical support while Carver…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Cold War and the post-war era

Non-Fiction

30 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Cold War and the post-war era

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.