26 February 2019
February 26th, MGIMO hosted the presentation of the book «Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary» by the famous Russian historian, Aleksandr Fursenko and the Canadian-American researcher Timothy Naftali.
The book was published by «Political Encyclopedia» with the support of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre. The presentation was attended by the son of one of the authors, the Aide to the President of Russia Andrei Fursenko.
MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov welcomed the guests and showed his appreciation of the book, remarking that many of the arguments made by the authors remain valid today. «Time moves on but problems remain», noted the Rector, underlining the need to study history in order to efficiently deal with new problems. Anatoly Torkunov also thanked Andrei Sorokin, Director of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History for his contribution to the monograph, before yielding the floor to him. Andrei Sorokin reminded the audience that the book was first published in English a while back and was highly acclaimed; indeed the authors were awarded the Duke of Westminster medal for Military Literature.
MGIMO Professor Vladimir Pechatnov remarked that the book makes you relive historic events «like you were there in the Oval Office and the Kremlin». Indeed Aleksandr Fursenko had a great ability to analyse the human factor, which can determine the outcome of a crisis. Other experts, professors and the leadership of the University also shared their impressions on the book.
«Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary» by Timothy Naftali and Alexander Fursenko (1927–2008) is a fine analysis of Khrushchev’s foreign policy. The book is based on many different documents from Russian, American and European archives and is breath-taking for historians and amateurs alike.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
