Melvyn P. Leffler is Edward Stettinius Professor of American History at the Department of History, University of Virginia. His previous publications include To Lead the World: American Strategy after the Bush Doctrine (2008, as co-editor), For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (2007, winner of the AHA George Louis Beer Prize) and A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War (1992, winner of the Bancroft Prize, the Robert Ferrell Prize and the Herbert Hoover Book Award). Odd Arne Westad is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His previous publications include The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (2005, winner of the Bancroft Prize, the APSA New Political Science Prize and the Akira Ireye Award), Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950 (2003) and Brothers in Arms: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1945–1963 (1999, as editor).

Review of the set: 'There has never been a Cold War history like it; everything about it is monumental … In total, the volumes represent a successful interconnected attempt at describing the Cold War in full.' Jost Dülffer, H-Soz-u-Kult

• 1. The Cold War and the intellectual history of the late twentieth century Jan-Werner Müller; 2. The world economy and the Cold War, 1970–1990 Giovanni Arrighi; 3. The rise and fall of Eurocommunism Silvio Pons; 4. The Cold War and Jimmy Carter Nancy Mitchell; 5. Soviet foreign policy from détente to Gorbachev, 1975–1985 Vladislav M. Zubok; 6. Islamism, the Iranian revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Amin Saikal; 7. The collapse of superpower détente, 1975–1980 Olav Njølstad; 8. Japan and the Cold War, 1960–1991 Michael Schaller; 9. China and the Cold War after Mao Chen Jian; 10. The Cold War in Central America, 1975–1991 John H. Coatsworth; 11. The Cold War and Southern Africa, 1976–1990 Chris Saunders and Sue Onslow; 12. The Gorbachev revolution and the end of the Cold War Archie Brown; 13. US foreign policy under Reagan and Bush Beth A. Fischer; 14. Western Europe and the end of the Cold War, 1979–1989 John W. Young; 15. The East European revolutions of 1989 Jacques Lévesque; 16. The unification of Germany, 1985–1991 Helga Haftendorn; 17. The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1990–1991 Alex Pravda; 18. Science, technology, and the Cold War David Reynolds; 19. Transnational organizations and the Cold War Matthew Evangelista; 20. The biosphere and the Cold War J. R. McNeill; 21. The Cold War and human rights Rosemary Foot; 22. The Cold War in the longue durée: global migration, public health, and population control Matthew Connelly; 23. Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War Emily S. Rosenberg; 24. An 'incredibly swift transition': reflections on the end of the Cold War Adam Roberts; 25. The restructuring of the international system after the Cold War G. John Ikenberry.