UNDERSTANDING THE COLD WAR A Historian's Personal Reflections - Softcover

Ulam, Adam Bruno

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0967996007 ISBN 13: 9780967996004

Publisher: Leopolis Pr, 2000

Synopsis

The book contains engaging stories of Prof. Ulam's personal life which are interspersed with his reflections on the dominant events of the 20th Century,notably the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.The book proceeds from his dramatic departure at 16 from Lwow,Poland,only 6 days before Hitler's invasion, to his long tenure as one of the leading voices at Harvard.In recounting his life and summarizing the main themes of his 18 books,Ulam leaves a legacy, at once intensely personal and historically illuminating.He knew everyone from John Kenneth Galbraith,Alfred North Whitehead,and Edward Teller, to Pierre Trudeau and Andreas Papandreou. More intimate stories feature family members like his older brother Stanislaw, the famous Manhattan-project mathematician, who accompanied the teen-aged Adam in his flight to America and to whom the book is dedicated.

About this title

About the Author

Noted Harvard historian, Adam B.Ulam was born in Lwow, Poland, in 1922. He and his brother, who became one of the world's leading mathematicians, were on the last boat to leave Poland before the outbreak of WWII. He was 16 years old. His brother entered him at Brown University for his undergraduate education. He obtained his Ph.D at Harvard, in 1947 and joined the faculty in 1947 where he remained until his retirement in 1992. He trained thousands of undergraduates and graduate students who went on to leading posts in academia, government, business, and the media. His students included Henry Kissinger and Robert F. Kennedy. He was affiliated with Harvard's Russian Research Center, serving as it's director for 15 years. During his tenure, the Center become one of the world's leading institutions for the study of the Soviet Union. He wrote 19 books, many of them still classics in the field. The Bolsheviks, published in 1965, is still regarded as one of the definitive treatments of the party led by Vladimir Lenin. It was hailed by reviewers as "an intellectual biography of the highest sort," a "stunningly insightful look at this key period," and a "masterful study of the Communists'rise to power. One reviewer commented: "We used to be told it was worth learning Italian to read Dante. Here is a new one: it is worth developing an interest in Lenin to read Adam Ulam."

In 1964, Professor Ulam married Mary Hamilton Burgwin. They had two sons, Alexander Stanislaw and Joseph Howard. Divorced in 1992, the couple later reconciled, and were together at Prof. Ulam's death in March of this year.

Edition details

• Publisher: Leopolis Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0967996007
• ISBN 13: 9780967996004
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 327