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Author: Thomas Newdick As someone who has studied Cold War history, I looked forward to this title with interest. Upon arrival, though, it proved to be a mixed blessing. The Cold War took place between two nations, the United States and the Soviet Union, following the end of the Second World War. The Cold War began as a result of miscommunications and misunderstandings on both sides. The Soviet Union, having suffered brutally from European invasions twice in less than fifty years, wanted firm guarantees on border security. The United States possessed a deep-seated fear of communism, and saw any move by the Soviet Union as an expansion of communism, which needed to be met at every step of the way. The result was an action-reaction cycle between the two nations that saw each other as the antagonist, and each side defending themselves against the aggressions of the other. With that understanding, this book should be focusing on the impressive technological advancements made by the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War years. While the book does provide that, it also covers the other events of that period, namely the widespread anti-colonialism and nationalist movements found throughout the Third World. While these took place during the Cold War years, they are technically not Cold War battles. Examples include the Arab-Israeli conflicts and wars of African and South American independence movements. By including all of these conflicts, the book becomes a broader tome, one which should have been titled more accurately "Aircraft of the Cold War Era." So now that we know what the actual subject matter is, let's look at the contents themselves. Like other titles in Amber Books' "Essential Aircraft Identification Guide" series, this book provides a written historical overview presented in a chronological format, coupled with extensive color illustrations documenting the individual aircraft. The written portion of the book is fairly well done, and covers both the main conflicts (such as the Korean and Vietnam Wars) as well as the lesser known events (such as the extensive conflicts in Africa). While most Cold War history books focus on just the Soviet Union and United States, the broader coverage in this title provides a more complete picture, which is a good thing. Moving on to the illustrations, these are the weakest part of this book. I cannot help but make a comparison between this and Amber Books' recent World War One title, which is in the same series. The latter has accurate drawings with good color and marking information, while this book has the opposite. While a broad range of aircraft is depicted, they are often done in incorrect colors, or so poorly printed as to be rendered all but useless for a reference. This is a pity, as otherwise the book is a great reference for aviation during this era, especially with its coverage of those smaller conflicts. With the knowledge that the color illustrations are suspect at best in terms of colors and markings, this is a decent encyclopedia reference for the Cold War era. Most of the subjects covered have been presented in depth in more specialist volumes, so if one finds a particular aircraft about which they want more information, there are quite a few references available with that information. As such, this becomes a great introduction to Cold War era aviation and should serve to whet the appetite for more. My thanks to Casemate for the review copy. |
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