The Cold War was initiated in Canada in 1945 by the dramatic defection of Soviet cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko. This event marked the start of what turned out to be more than four decades of muted conflict between the Soviet Union and the West.The story of Igor Gouzenko is only one of many tales of espionage and intrigue told in this lavishly illustrated history. Authors Reg Whitaker and Steve Hewitt offer anecdotes, analysis, and lively discussion of a subject that has seldom been written about before. The book is organized by decade with each decade introduced by a short contextualizing essay. Canada and the Cold War is an attractive gift book as well as a fascinating historical overview of a key period in Canadian history. REG WHITAKER was a professor of political science at York University for many years. He is the author of Cold War Canada: The Making of a National Insecurity State, 1945 1957.

STEVE HEWITT was born and raised in Southern Ontario. After completing an Honours B.A. in History and Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University, he travelled west to Saskatchewan where he completed a PhD in history at the University of Saskatchewan in 1997. He subsequently taught for several years at the University of Saskatchewan. From 2000 to 2002 he was a visiting scholar with the Dept. of History at Purdue University and from 2001 to 2002 he taught history at the University of Indianapolis. Currently, he is a Teaching Fellow with the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

He has published widely on topics related to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and security and intelligence issues in Canada. In 2002, he published his first book, Spying 101: The RCMP s Secret Activities at Canadian Universities, 1917-1997.".