The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991

For half of the twentieth century, the Cold War gripped the world. International relations everywhere—and domestic policy in scores of nations—pivoted around this central point, the American-Soviet rivalry. Even today, much of the world's diplomacy grapples with chaos created by the Cold War's sudden disappearance. Here indeed is a subject that defies easy understanding. Now comes a definitive account, a startlingly fresh, clear eyed, comprehensive history of our century's longest struggle. <…