Endorsements: A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991 ed. by Vojtech Mastny and Malcolm Byrne (Budapest: Central European Press, 2005)

“This ‘inside’ history of the Warsaw Pact is a remarkable achievement. It is a product of a multinational team of able researchers and translators who have extracted vital documents, each with illuminating headnotes, from the archives of the members of the bloc. The collection is made all the more valuable by the insightful introductory essay of Vojtech Mastny, the preeminent authority on the Warsaw Pact. Exposing conflict as well as consensus over the Pact's forty-six year life span, this pioneer effort will be an indispensable resource for Cold War scholars.”

Lawrence S. Kaplan, former director, Lemnitzer Center for NATO Studies, Kent State University, author of NATO Divided, NATO United

“Combining more than six hundred pages of fascinating, hitherto secret documents with a long, wonderfully trenchant introductory essay by Vojtech Mastny, this invaluable volume illuminates not only the ‘inside history’ of the Warsaw Pact, but, as reflected in that story, the history of Soviet-East European relations, of the decline and fall of Communism, of East-West relations in Europe, and of East bloc planning (if that is the word to describe a process rife with misjudgments) for both war and peace.”

William Taubman, Amherst College, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and His Era

“This volume opens the door to one of the most important yet largely neglected chapters of the Cold War in Europe -- the Warsaw Pact. Mastny's provocative overview of its history should fire the interest of general readers as well as specialists; only a scholar with his breadth of knowledge of Eastern European history and languages could execute such a project. He and Byrne are to be congratulated for producing this monumental volume, with a trove of translated documents that is a major boon to both scholars and teachers.”

William E. Odom (Lt. Gen. Ret.), former Director, National Security Agency, author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military

This remarkable book documents in fascinating detail the rise and fall of the Warsaw Treaty organisation - an alliance of unfree nations press-ganged into military collaboration over forty years. How it came about, did its business, and eventually imploded is the story of my lifetime - and that of many others who were affected by it. This is therefore not just a story for experts or historians - it is a chronology of significance and an era we must never forget".

The Rt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen