In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than fifteen million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history. The Cold War’s Killing Fields is the first global military history of this superpower conflict and the first full accounting of its devastating impact. More than previous armed conflicts, the wars of the post-1945 era ravaged civilian populations worldwide, from Korea and Vietnam to the Congo and Angola to Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. Chamberlin provides an understanding of this sweeping history from the ground up and offers a moving portrait of human suffering, capturing the voices of those who experienced the brutal warfare. “The international Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union did not lead to World War III, but as Chamberlin ably shows in this tour de force, that does not mean the era's rivalries did not result in widespread carnage.” - Kirkus Reviews  [An] “eye-opening … precise, painful account of the Cold War.... what’s so valuable about Chamberlin’s book is that it draws the separate wars together into one intelligent, crisply written narrative.” - The Nation