Martin Walker's account of over forty years of global confrontation between the US and Russia is a masterly narrative of the Cold War's twists and turns by a journalist who was a first-hand witness to its close. Immaculately researched, drawing upon both the vast of historical literature that has been produced over the years as well as previously-closed contemporary Kremlin archives, this is an authoritative account of one of the most signficant conflicts of the 20th century.