Deep in the Arizonan desert are rows and rows of disused 1960s aircraft. Left there because the dry climate and alkaline soil keeps them intact, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers lie dormant.
These airplanes – hauntingly ubiquitous during the Vietnam War – are just some of the striking relics of the Cold War dotted across the world.
This 20th century hostility spanned four decades and several continents, so perhaps it’s no wonder that so many physical artifacts survive from the era.
Robert Grenville’s new book “Abandoned Cold War Places,” published by Amber Books, is a photographic odyssey through the disused sites that once played an integral role in the standoff between the Soviet Union and US-led NATO allies.
From this eerie US aircraft boneyard to a onetime USSR naval base that’s now a tourist hotspot, Grenville’s book is a haunting evocation of the impact of this era, published to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.
“It seemed the right time to look at the physical legacy of the stand-off between these two power blocs,” Grenville tells CNN Travel.
Physical legacy
