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The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today
A leading historian’s guide to great-power competition, as told through America’s successes and failures in the Cold War
“There is an undeniable ease and fluidity to Mr. Brands’s narrative, and his use of Cold War archives is impressive.”—A. Wess Mitchell, Wall Street Journal
“If you want to know how America can win today's rivalries with Russia and China, read this book about how it triumphed in another twilight the Cold War.”—Stephen J. Hadley, national security adviser to President George W. Bush
America is entering an era of long-term great power competition with China and Russia. In this innovative and illuminating book, Hal Brands, a leading historian and former Pentagon adviser, argues that America should look to the history of the Cold War for lessons on how to succeed in great-power rivalry today.
“There is an undeniable ease and fluidity to Mr. Brands’s narrative, and his use of Cold War archives is impressive.”—A. Wess Mitchell, Wall Street Journal
“If you want to know how America can win today's rivalries with Russia and China, read this book about how it triumphed in another twilight the Cold War.”—Stephen J. Hadley, national security adviser to President George W. Bush
America is entering an era of long-term great power competition with China and Russia. In this innovative and illuminating book, Hal Brands, a leading historian and former Pentagon adviser, argues that America should look to the history of the Cold War for lessons on how to succeed in great-power rivalry today.
318 pages, Hardcover
Published January 25, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 16, 2023
"Great-power competition—prolonged, dangerous, even deadly geopolitical rivalry—is more normal than we think. From antiquity to the present, nations have vied for influence and advantage..."
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy The Twilight Struggle as much as I'd hoped. The book is my second from the author, after his 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, which was exceptional. So, I guess I went into this one with high expectations. Sadly, the writing here did not meet the high bar established for me in Danger Zone.
Author Hal Brands is an American scholar of U.S. foreign policy. He is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Hal Brands:
My main gripe with this book was the overall style and tone it was presented in. The writing is stereotypical academic prose; dry, long-winded, and tedious at times. IMHO, The book was just too long... The audio version I have clocked in at ~13 or 14 hours.
I also felt that the formatting of this one was subpar. The narrative flow jumps around too much, with not enough attention paid to overall cohesion. Sadly, this is in stark contrast to the other book I read from the author. My reviews are always heavily weighted toward how readable a book is, and unfortunately will see this one punished fairly harshly here...
Brands continues the quote from the start of this review:
In this quote, Brand lays out the framework for the source material of the book:
***********************
I didn't like The Twilight Struggle. I would not recommend it; for the reasons above.
Too bad, as there is some interesting content covered here...
2.5 stars.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy The Twilight Struggle as much as I'd hoped. The book is my second from the author, after his 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, which was exceptional. So, I guess I went into this one with high expectations. Sadly, the writing here did not meet the high bar established for me in Danger Zone.
Author Hal Brands is an American scholar of U.S. foreign policy. He is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Hal Brands:
My main gripe with this book was the overall style and tone it was presented in. The writing is stereotypical academic prose; dry, long-winded, and tedious at times. IMHO, The book was just too long... The audio version I have clocked in at ~13 or 14 hours.
I also felt that the formatting of this one was subpar. The narrative flow jumps around too much, with not enough attention paid to overall cohesion. Sadly, this is in stark contrast to the other book I read from the author. My reviews are always heavily weighted toward how readable a book is, and unfortunately will see this one punished fairly harshly here...
Brands continues the quote from the start of this review:
"...Today, America is facing new twilight struggles—high-stakes, longterm competitions against China and Russia. So far, these competitions are occurring in the no-man’s-land between peace and war, although the danger of military conflict is growing. They represent fierce geopolitical struggles over power and influence, but also deeply ideological conflicts between authoritarianism and democracy. These competitions will determine whether the twenty-first century extends the relatively peaceful, prosperous world to which Americans have become accustomed or thrusts us back to a darker past. They will influence the fate of freedom in countries around the globe."
In this quote, Brand lays out the framework for the source material of the book:
"Many books have been written about how America should wage great power competition in the coming decades. This one is different. Here, I seek insight about the future by examining the past. Protracted rivalry against powerful authoritarian countries feels unfamiliar to Americans after the generation of great-power peace that followed the Cold War. But longterm competition seems new only because it is very old. Rediscovering the lost art of long-term competition requires only that we reacquaint ourselves with history."
***********************
I didn't like The Twilight Struggle. I would not recommend it; for the reasons above.
Too bad, as there is some interesting content covered here...
2.5 stars.
March 19, 2022
The Cold War is a distant memory for many of us of a certain age and nothing more than a textbook history lesson for the rest of us under the age of 40. But now, in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s brutal and bloody onslaught against Ukraine amid our collective prolonged worry and apprehension about an increasingly aggressive China, many seem to be struggling to understand what it will take to keep the peace. History can and will guide us, so we go back to the history books. The first place we should start is with Hal Brand’s latest book. Brands, a noted Cold War historian, and former Pentagon advisor, presents an illuminating and richly researched lesson of how the US dealt with the challenge of the Cold War – that “Twilight Struggle” the West fought from the end of World War II until 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved itself. Brands gives us a crisp examination of the many successes and more than a few missteps US leaders experienced during these anxious years. Ultimately, the power of ideas and free markets brought the West victory against a hollowed-out Communist empire – but it took extraordinary work, innumerable policies and programs, and a willingness to stand strong that won the peace.
Brands ventures deep into those many challenges, strategies, and tactics the Cold War American Presidents, beginning with Truman to ending with Reagan and Bush, took up to win that “Twilight Struggle.” To be fair to potential readers, this is not light reading. But it is an excellent read for those fascinated by Cold War history. For everyone else who picks up this book, it is something of an incredibly well-timed primer for what it will likely require from all of us to strenuously defend freedom and democracy as we know it once again.
Brands ventures deep into those many challenges, strategies, and tactics the Cold War American Presidents, beginning with Truman to ending with Reagan and Bush, took up to win that “Twilight Struggle.” To be fair to potential readers, this is not light reading. But it is an excellent read for those fascinated by Cold War history. For everyone else who picks up this book, it is something of an incredibly well-timed primer for what it will likely require from all of us to strenuously defend freedom and democracy as we know it once again.
February 26, 2022
“History…can sharpen the judgment of policymakers as they confront a new generation of challenges.”
In this book, Professor Brands dissects ten themes of the Cold War that are relevant to competition the U.S. encounters today with China and Russia. From “forging a strategy” - remember to focus on vital interests - to “managing the endgame” by use of the golden bridge, Brands shares these key Cold War lessons in crisp 20-30 page essay-like chapters. He ends the book with a dozen lessons on great power competition that, if properly considered and applied, will guide the U.S. through successful competition in today’s twilight struggle.
In this book, Professor Brands dissects ten themes of the Cold War that are relevant to competition the U.S. encounters today with China and Russia. From “forging a strategy” - remember to focus on vital interests - to “managing the endgame” by use of the golden bridge, Brands shares these key Cold War lessons in crisp 20-30 page essay-like chapters. He ends the book with a dozen lessons on great power competition that, if properly considered and applied, will guide the U.S. through successful competition in today’s twilight struggle.
August 1, 2023
An impressive and timely read by the noted national security scholar Hal Brands. In "The Twilight Struggle," a phrase lifted from JFK's inaugural address, Brands presents a succinct record of how the United States built its national security organization from the days of World War II. His emphasis is on the years of the Cold War that followed, and upon how the nation dealt with the international climate that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. He explores how the lessons learned in that long Cold War and its aftermath may provide insights for dealing with what is increasingly being called Cold War II, our current competition with Russia and China.
The heart of American strategy in the Cold War was the policy of containment developed by diplomat George Kennan. Containment envisioned an effort to forestall the spread of communism by the Soviets through military or political means anywhere in the world. Brands writes of containment's fame, "It persisted for two generations. It delivered the greatest peaceful victory in the history of great power rivalry." However, he also notes, "The strategy triggered fierce political fights almost from the outset; it faced withering critiques from left and right, hawks and doves, for decades thereafter. And not surprisingly, because containment had plenty of drawbacks--its plodding pace, its dangers and costs, its moral compromises--and often looked to be failing until it triumphed." The confrontational element of containment did not do the job alone. The development of government organizations such as the CIA and the State Department's Policy Planning Staff (headed by Kennan) proved to be key elements in the overall strategy. Building the support of other nations through creating the Marshall Plan, NATO, and Radio Free Europe not only forestalled Soviet ambitions but added voices and arms in support of the American efforts.
Brands describes all of these efforts, and more. He highlights the roles of each Cold War era American President in responding to the long-term competition between democracy and authoritarianism. Of particular interest is his discussion of the shaping of the conclusion of the struggle through diplomacy and economic pressure by President Ronald Reagan and the deft personal relationship between President H. W. Bush and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to finalize the end of the Soviet Union.
In his concluding chapter, Brands lays out twelve lessons from American conduct of the Cold War. He offers these, not as a blueprint, but for consideration by policy makers and by citizens as a way to "sharpen the judgment" in "confronting a new generation of challenges."
The heart of American strategy in the Cold War was the policy of containment developed by diplomat George Kennan. Containment envisioned an effort to forestall the spread of communism by the Soviets through military or political means anywhere in the world. Brands writes of containment's fame, "It persisted for two generations. It delivered the greatest peaceful victory in the history of great power rivalry." However, he also notes, "The strategy triggered fierce political fights almost from the outset; it faced withering critiques from left and right, hawks and doves, for decades thereafter. And not surprisingly, because containment had plenty of drawbacks--its plodding pace, its dangers and costs, its moral compromises--and often looked to be failing until it triumphed." The confrontational element of containment did not do the job alone. The development of government organizations such as the CIA and the State Department's Policy Planning Staff (headed by Kennan) proved to be key elements in the overall strategy. Building the support of other nations through creating the Marshall Plan, NATO, and Radio Free Europe not only forestalled Soviet ambitions but added voices and arms in support of the American efforts.
Brands describes all of these efforts, and more. He highlights the roles of each Cold War era American President in responding to the long-term competition between democracy and authoritarianism. Of particular interest is his discussion of the shaping of the conclusion of the struggle through diplomacy and economic pressure by President Ronald Reagan and the deft personal relationship between President H. W. Bush and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to finalize the end of the Soviet Union.
In his concluding chapter, Brands lays out twelve lessons from American conduct of the Cold War. He offers these, not as a blueprint, but for consideration by policy makers and by citizens as a way to "sharpen the judgment" in "confronting a new generation of challenges."
September 21, 2022
This was a thoughtful audiobook to listen to as Professor Brands describes the current global security environment as an "ongoing, open-ended contest for influence between great powers." While today's challenges do differ from those of the Cold War and it would be foolish to seek answers to the specific issues that demand responses today, it is an experience that can and should inform the approach to protracted competition. With the book first published in January 2022 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine starting the next month, the discussion on working within limits was quite topical as providing material support to Ukraine unfolded while Beijing ratcheted up pressure on Taiwan by launching joint military exercises with ballistic missile launches over the island while dramatically increasing the volume of its attacks in cyberspace in response to the Speaker Pelosi visit. There have certainly been those who argue for a greater resource allocation to the current hostilities in Europe just as there are those who feel the substantial U.S. commitment of security assistance to Ukraine comes with too high an opportunity cost with those resources needing to be committed to contending with the "pacing threat" from Beijing. It was very important to hear his descriptions of avoiding policies, both at home and abroad, that negatively impact national vitality. The increasing fragility of key institutions and the sharply divided U.S. politics today reinforce that Moscow and Beijing will seek to capitalize on U.S. domestic weaknesses that they find. The challenge from both authoritarian powers will continue to test U.S. statecraft and the risk of expanded conflict looks to remain heightened across this decade.
November 29, 2022
Dr. Brands has written a well-researched and thorough analysis of the less entertaining parts of the Cold War, the greatest ideological struggle of the 20th century. In rich detail, he describes the various ways and keys through which the United States was able to equip itself, compete, and win a great-power competition in the ever-dangerous nuclear age. By carefully breaking down the component parts of power competition, and analyzing the ways in which the United States was able to excel, and the ways the United States failed, he paints a picture of a true twilight struggle. Out of the sunshine of peace and between the shadow of war does this competition come, in what he terms the geopolitical twilight.
By using examples such as the contest of systems, intelligence community, and building the bureaucracy, Dr. Brands is able to argumentatively make the case that the United States needs to take lessons from this Cold War if it is to get into another massive ideological conflict, and compete in this twilight struggle (more fun than gray zone, I think.) If, as I believe, we are to get into this massive contest with the PRC, this book would provide valuable lessons for policymakers to take from when engaging in the contest of systems.
Stylistically, this is clearly an IR book, and as such is very technical. However, it is well written, has enough breaks in text to allow you to digest what's being written. It's not a long slog either, sitting nicely at 250 pages. It is chock full of good advice and historical lessons to educate aspiring policymakers and seasoned hands to take on the burdens of ensuring the American system will prevail, should we get into these sorts of spots again.
By using examples such as the contest of systems, intelligence community, and building the bureaucracy, Dr. Brands is able to argumentatively make the case that the United States needs to take lessons from this Cold War if it is to get into another massive ideological conflict, and compete in this twilight struggle (more fun than gray zone, I think.) If, as I believe, we are to get into this massive contest with the PRC, this book would provide valuable lessons for policymakers to take from when engaging in the contest of systems.
Stylistically, this is clearly an IR book, and as such is very technical. However, it is well written, has enough breaks in text to allow you to digest what's being written. It's not a long slog either, sitting nicely at 250 pages. It is chock full of good advice and historical lessons to educate aspiring policymakers and seasoned hands to take on the burdens of ensuring the American system will prevail, should we get into these sorts of spots again.
July 1, 2022
Audiobook. Brands does a great job exploring the contours and through lines of the cold-war, showing what worked and what didn’t and explaining exactly why. Importantly, he provides context for each set of policies which helps the reader understand why a certain U.S. posture and set of policies which worked at one time, probably would not have worked at another moment of the Cold War. For example, Reagan needed the detente failure in order to pursue his maximalist position against the Soviets. Had Reagan’s policies been tried in the 1960s they likely would have failed as the Soviet system was still economically and ideologically viable at that point. Reagan and H.W. Bush come off particularly well in Brand’s telling, but the real winner is the US’s open society and market place of ideas.
The final chapter that applies the lessons of the Cold War to the current geopolitical struggle between the US and Russia and China, is excellent. Brands neatly and persuasively creates a role for values and human rights within America’s grand strategy that is too often defined only by liberal interventionists who disdain the logic or balance of power politics and on the other end, realists who see nothing but balance of power politics. I think brands’ reading fits better with the latter than it does the former view of the international system, but it does effectively point out one of the blind spots in the realist model. All in all, really good stuff. I’m planning to buy the book to read and re-read that final chapter.
The final chapter that applies the lessons of the Cold War to the current geopolitical struggle between the US and Russia and China, is excellent. Brands neatly and persuasively creates a role for values and human rights within America’s grand strategy that is too often defined only by liberal interventionists who disdain the logic or balance of power politics and on the other end, realists who see nothing but balance of power politics. I think brands’ reading fits better with the latter than it does the former view of the international system, but it does effectively point out one of the blind spots in the realist model. All in all, really good stuff. I’m planning to buy the book to read and re-read that final chapter.
March 23, 2022
If the Cold War taught us anything, it was to never underestimate our adversary. Sometimes that meant building up a deterrent military capability such that the risk of miscalculation by the other side was too great to take. At other times it may have meant making diplomatic entreaties, either directly—to the extent possible—or through proxies, as the struggle to gain influence rapidly expanded. Brands, a noted Cold War historian, has delved deep in this new offering looking back at last century’s Cold War to communicate in 10 chapters/lessons how what we did and said to triumph during the 40+year struggle contains the DNA strands for confronting today’s great power rivalry. From efforts and concepts such as containment, escalation, satellite proxies, a physical wall, Reykjavik, Sputnik, SALT, Open Skies, perestroika, CFE, glasnost—and many others, the West ultimately ‘won.’ Yet, how do we take these lessons appropriately away for application today without improperly muddling the contextual analogy? Brands walks us through that. See this recent interview with Brands to go a bit deeper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzPSk....
May 18, 2022
Strategy (The Cold War History - Strategy Perspective)
Using the history of the Cold War as a foundation to revisit the successful framework of strategies that endured from that time, the author adeptly orients readers to the salient aspects of applying strategy and analysis into today’s great power competition. Retrospectively reviewing both the good and the bad from the Cold War, one can take away very useful elements in crafting strategy and conducting analysis. Though no panacea exists in strategy, this book is an outstanding read in growing one’s own intellectual prowess to think and plan strategically.
Using the history of the Cold War as a foundation to revisit the successful framework of strategies that endured from that time, the author adeptly orients readers to the salient aspects of applying strategy and analysis into today’s great power competition. Retrospectively reviewing both the good and the bad from the Cold War, one can take away very useful elements in crafting strategy and conducting analysis. Though no panacea exists in strategy, this book is an outstanding read in growing one’s own intellectual prowess to think and plan strategically.
January 11, 2023
I wish I had read this before Brands' Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, but I'm very glad to have the information and inspiration now. The book's ten chapters describe different Cold War-era strategic challenges relevant to today's global power competition, explain how America was successful (if we were), and offer some insight into the role those strategic challenges play today. The conclusion includes 12 lessons the Cold War can teach us.
February 8, 2022
Professor Brands makes a compelling argument for a more involved Foreign Policy to counteract the Global Rise of Chinese influence. Not the large destabilizing impact of invasion but rather a combination of smart foreign policy, military advisors as well as intelligent use of American Money. All of these things must be carried out not in the ad hoc manner that has been happening since the end of the "Cold War" but by taking lessons from the past and applying the principles of those lessons to the present.
May 2, 2022
This is a splendid book that considers the Cold War as a strategic classroom. It is not a president-by-president history or decade-by-decade history of the 40-something-year struggle between the US and the Soviet Union. Instead, Hal Brands invites to look at it as a place to learn how to think about competitive statecraft. This book is best read in tandem with other books on grand strategy or the Cold War, but whether as first introduction to the topic or summary of the field, readers will be rewarded by Brands's latest contribution.
April 3, 2022
Great book! Hal Brands didn't disappoint. One of the best books I've read in a while.
May 12, 2022
Great snap shot of the Cold War and lessons for today.
October 20, 2022
A good “usable history” analysis of US policy in the Cold War and it’s evolution.
January 30, 2023
Terrific overview of Cold War history and US strategy.
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April 14, 2023" A geopolitics masterpiece of Great powers from contemporary American Power competition strategies backgrounds lessons " For any willing policy makers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2023
A discussion of how the US fought the Cold War that covers old ground with an to today’s rivalry with Beijing.
August 26, 2023
Provides frames of reference and mental models to understand competition today. Some models seem obvious, others are more analytically creative.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews