A Dynamic History of the Cold War

Cold War is far from being a completely known story and as we are advancing into our multi-polar, close to chaos world, available information - archives and independent researches in specific domains - are showing a world far from being fully bipolar. However, once one is entering into the many details - previously less discussed in the media and academic circles, it is easy to notice that the world during the Cold War was far from being easy, and based on a synchronicity between one world - the communist, Soviet managed block of countries - and the other - the liberal, democratic one.

In reality, there were an enormous number of actors interacting within or outside the given narrative, creating alliances, cooperating, fighting for supremacy, including within the two block themselves. At least for the communist block, the inimities between the Soviets and Yugoslavia, as well as the changing waves of influence - switching between East and West at least several times in some cases -in Latin America, are only few examples of such alternatives.

Organiser le Monde - Organising the world, in my own translation - by Sandrine Kott suggests an interesting analysis into the Cold War through the various interactions that took place between representatives of the two blocks and the ideological systems represented, within the framework of international organisations. 

Within organisations such as the UN or UNESCO, the countries from both sides of the Iron Curtain were able to communicate with each other, get to know and eventually act together on various issues of bilateral common interest. Economic organisations, or the dialogue open up by the Helsinki Charter were as many opportunities for dialogue and exchange. 

The research is systematic, adding the details following specific topics and a historical timeline. It is well documented both historically and by using various sources of information. However, I had the feeling that there were many important aspects left behind, that would have deserve more details, for instance the amount of ´soft power´ the US spent in the last two decades of the Cold War by the way of academic exchanges. 

The diversity of aspects and topics outlined in the book offer valuable inspiration and suggestions for further studies in the field of both international relations and Cold War history. It also helps to understand our current world and to trace the global, regional and international alliances.

Rating: 4 stars

Invisible Martyrs by Farhana Qazi

 

Farhana Qazi is the first ever Muslim woman working in US counter terrorism institutions, but first and foremost, her pioneering work was to focus on personal stories in addition to psychological profiles of women who chose to get involved in terrorism radical movements and ultimately, in suicide terrorist attacks. 

Invisible Martyrs. Inside the Secret World of Female Islamic Radicals is an interesting read - available as audiobook read by the author herself as well - as it puts the women involved in extremism act on the map of radical/extremist movements. 

She outlines several times, based on her own experiences in commenting various religious texts that Muslim women involved in such acts represent a small amount of the religious women as ´most Muslim women practice Islam peacefully´. However, since the 1970s onwards there is an increasing number of women fighting ´their oppressors´, alongside with men, and her mother, involved in various militant actions in the Kashmir, may be an example in this respect. 

Abu Musab al-Zarkawi was the first to encourage women to sacrifice for extremist political actions, but women were at certain extents already present in the field since the late 1980s. 

Qazi arguments and informations, also supported by other researchers in the field, such as Mia Bloom, who is also quoted in the book, is that women are alongside with men able to get involved in various militant episodes. They may be manipulated by men often, as accomplice or lover of men involved in terrorism. They can accompany them to death or do it for the sake of them and the promise of a heaven.

The important conclusion is that there are no general patterns and psychological profiles of women, but circumstances may be significantly important. Individual stories shared in the book of girls marginalized or being outside parental control - or maybe under a too stricter such control - can only diversify the angles and perspectives to consider in such situations.

The book is rich in examples and methods, making easier for researchers in the field to navigate a relatively new but increasingly important area of study. It offers guidance and directions, but given the novely of the area of study and the scarcity of current knowledge in this respect, I may expect different takes and conclusions for the time being. The merit of the book is nevertheless significant.

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Kinder of Hoy

Hoyerweda is a relatively small, once industrial town in Saxony, then a pearl of the industralization progress of the former GDR. Brigitte Reimann made the town famous as she, alongside with other authors at the time, went there and wrote several literary imbued reports that were published in the media at the time. I personally keep at high esteem such reports, because put aside the ideological passion, it turned the interest on people and their story, introducing a new style of journalism that nurtured a lot my own writing. It is a genre that deserves more consideration and appreciation, in my opinion.

Once communism was dismantled and Germany reunited, Hoyerweda, as many other densely industrialized places, went through several crisis: identity but especially economic crisis. Actually those two crisis, and many other who followed, were intermingled and outsourced each other. In 1991, several riots ignited by far right individuals and entities put the relatively unknown city - including within Germany - on a newly set up map of extremism and xenophobia, often afterwards associated with this part of the country - Saxony.

Grit Lemke, author, documentarist and film director, went back in time and collected various testimonies of people born and bred, or settling in Hoyerweda at certain moments of time, including former immigrants from ´friendly´ communist countries like Vietnam and Angola. Structured on historical stages, she collected an impressive amount of oral histories shedding light not only on the personal experiences, but in perspective, offers a global outlook on German history, particularly during the communist times.

For historians of recent history with a focus on the history of mentalities, this method although may be lengthly in time - including as establishing a level of trust with the subjects is needed in advance of starting the project - and requiring a considerable amount of resources, it is one of the best, in my opinion, for illustrating sudden social and political changes. Through personal testimonies the attentive and experienced eye of the researcher can figure out so many small details that may further help to reconstruct an era, one small piece at a time.

Kinder von Hoy is a recommended read to anyone looking to understand communist and post-communist Germany, by hearing the voices of first hand subjects of history. I would continue this year to explore more about this specific history that decades after the unification remains very much present in the structure of mentalities in the former Eastern but also Western Germany.

Rating: 5 stars