The three decades that have passed since the end of the Cold War represent a comfortable distance to consider and comprehend this process. The new tensions in relations between East and West that have begun in recent years, which call into question the existence of the world order formed as a result of the end of the Cold War, give special relevance to this issue. The book reviewed in this overview is a collective effort by Russian and Western historians to comprehend some important processes and aspects of the final stage of the Cold War. The starting point for the creation of the collective work was a very representative international conference held at the Russian State University for the Humanities in 2019. It is on the basis of the selected fifteen reports of the conference participants (well-known scientists representing Russia, the US, and Austria) that the chapters of the collective monograph were prepared. The book consists of three parts, divided according to the thematic principle. The first part of the work examines external and internal factors, as well as alternatives in the process of the end of the Cold War from the point of view of Soviet-American relations. The second part is devoted to the European dimension of the end of the Cold War, mainly Germany and Eastern European countries. The third part, devoted to changing attitudes in Soviet and American society, examines the problems of mutual perception, public diplomacy, and scientific diplomacy in the process of ending the bipolar confrontation. The book is a useful example of academic dialogue on an urgent and often discussed historical problem, which acquires particular importance in the context of the freezing of scientific ties between Russia and the West.
international relation; international security; cold war; new political thinking; scientific diplomacy.