1) reflect and analyze the key ideas and issues they raise for you. Did you find anything challenging or new, provocative, or problematic? Did anything influence the way you think about our class? Do you see connections with other class materials?
2) comment on the historiographical issues: that is, what did you think about the research methods and approaches, the theoretical frameworks, and the historical sources which authors use?
3) cite and/or comment on a specific quote or passage, which you found confusing or worth class discussion.
4) Include, in your own post, one or two discussion questions you want to raise in class.
These posts will be graded based on 1) your writing style/clarity 2) evidence of careful reading 3) original, critical thinking which follows the above four guidelines.
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Here are two reading questions to ponder about Cold War endings.
1. Americans tend to celebrate the Cold War as a U.S. victory; however, Vladislav Zubok, a leading Soviet historian at the London School of Economics, offers an account here that challenges that account by focusing on the Soviet side of the story, particularly from the perspective of the personality of Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the U.S.S.R. at the time of the Cold War’s ending in Europe and the rest of the world. Why, according to Zubok, is Gorbachev so pivotal? How did the Cold War end as a result of his actions? How did this relate to issues and events in the rest of the world, including the United States? And, how was this a story of unintended consequences, even for Gorbachev, particularly when considering the rapid break-up of the U.S.S.R.?