Publication

This book examines the evolution of superpower détente during the 1960s and 1970s in the light of newly available archival material. The book offers a critical reappraisal of the history of the period, arguing that détente was more the product of a rapidly changing international system and a shift in domestic social and political thinking, rather than a stalemate between two superpowers. The authors maintain that while the "nuclear revolution" made détente possible, the "nuclear peace" that followed provided the seed for its failure.