1917

1991

ABOUT MICHAEL

DATELINES

Gdansk August 1980

Farewell to Poland 1982

Soviet "Crisis of Faith" 1982

Superpower Decline 1988

A visit with Havel 1988

Tanks in Lithuania 1989

Tiananmen Square 1989

Bosnia on the Brink 1991

Goodbye USSR  Dec 1991

Atomic Spy unmasked 1996

The Cold War Trilogy

The Cold War Trilogy describes the longest conflict in American history-a struggle that pitted liberty against tyranny, free markets against five-year plans, the individual versus the state.  Michael Dobbs has focused on the turning points of the Cold War: its origins in 1945 (Six Months in 1945), its peak during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 (One Minute to Midnight), and the grand finale between 1989 and 1991 (Down With Big Brother). The trilogy captures the mood and personalities of a now vanished age-the world of Checkpoint Charlie and Dr. Strangelove, sputniks and spies, Gorbachev and Reagan, Stalin and Sakharov.

Michael Dobbs is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the defining ideological contest of the 20th century.  He was-almost literally-a child of the Cold War.  His diplomat parents whisked him off to Russia at the age of six weeks.  As a child, he lived through the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and the construction of the Berlin wall.  As a reporter for the Washington Post, first in eastern Europe and later in Moscow and Washington, he witnessed the birth of the Solidarity movement in Poland, the hope and tragedy of Tiananmen square, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the war in the former Yugoslavia.

When he first went to Russia in 1950, Stalin was at the height of his power.  When he left, in 1993, communism had collapsed, the Cold War was over, and the Red Flag no longer flew over the Kremlin.  How this happened-and why it happened-is the story of the Cold War Trilogy.

NEWS

Latest reviews: Six Months in 1945: From World War to Cold War 

"Superbly evocative and readable...filled with telling details." San Francisco Chronicle. 

"Superb...Dobbs tells the story with the precision of a fine historian and the verve of a first-rate journalist." Dallas News.

"A gifted storyteller and thorough researcher with an eye for detail...tension and suspense aplenty." Washington Times

"Elegantly written...Dobbs delivers engaging portraits of the national leaders...A confident and rewarding survey of a hinge point in 20th century history." Kirkus Reviews. 

An astute narrative of the six months 
that changed the world" -- Publishers Weekly

"Michael Dobbs tells this story with panache, lucidity, and exceptional scholarship."--Rick Atkinson, Amazon.com 

"Why I write" essay for Publishers Weekly, August 2012