In Cold War Respite twelve scholars writing from several national perspectives investigate in riveting detail how that event -- examined only in passing until now -- came about, why its "spirit" was so short-lived, and what its subsequent impact was on the development of the cold war. Making use of newly declassified archives in the United States, France, Britain, and Russia, the authors provide some of the latest research and insights into early cold-war history as they track the crucial period from Stalin's death in 1953 until the summit. They consider John Foster Dulles's policy at Geneva and the meeting of the four foreign ministers that followed the summit.

As the essayists attest, the psychological effects of the summit were of immense significance to the history of international relations and reveal the complexity and dynamism of foreign affairs during the decades following World War II. While some argue that the series of international crises beginning in 1958 and culminating in 1962 might have been averted if the Geneva conference had been pursued more eagerly, othersargue that it is a credit to the summit that those events are studied today as examples of crisis management and not of nuclear war.