"The euphoria that accompanied the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union lasted only a moment, dashed by the horror of 9/11. But the rise of a new global enemy driven, like the old one, by a hatred of Western freedom and democracy makes the lessons of the Cold War as relevant as ever. The half-century struggle between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, a struggle that determined whether hundreds of millions would live in freedom or slavery, is one of the most dramatic and consequential epochs in history. Yet to the generation that has grown up since the Cold War's astonishingly peaceful conclusion, this titanic geopolitical conflict can seem as remote as the Punic Wars. In this accessible and highly readable account, Lee Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards Spalding explain the essential events, persons, and ideas that shaped the Cold War, from Harry Truman's strategy of containment to Richard Nixon's détente to Ronald Reagan's simple yet powerful philosophy of "we win, they lose.""--Book jacket.