Goes beyond the headlines of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, Korea, and Vietnam to take an in-depth look at the situation of the United States before, during and after the Cold War.

Originally published: London : Fourth Estate, 1993. "A John Macrae book." Includes index.

1945, Yalta to the bomb -- Containment -- Cold War goes global, and comes home -- New leaders and lost opportunities -- Spies in the sky, sputnik to U-2 -- Torch has been passed -- Cuban Missile Crisis -- Weary Titan -- Defeat in Asia, hope in Europe -- Death of Detente and the change of the Western system -- New Cold War -- Taking the enemy away, Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War -- Year of Miracles and its aftermath.