What was the Cold War really about? Was it a war in the truest sense?

The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II.  Orwell understood it as a nuclear stalemate between “super-states”: each possessed weapons of mass destruction and was capable of annihilating the other.

Explanation: So yea it made sense for this War to start or otherwise we would have a Nuclear Warfare. Weird right?

the best description of postwar writers might be progressive.

following the war, writers showed a tendency to work on artistic or social matters rather than political themes. while postwar literature may not have been the greatest period of english literature, the themes provided excellent critics a high number of novels. such examples include anthony burgess, anthony powell and frank kermode, all of which can be placed under the progressive view.