The newest entry in Alan Axelrod's engaging, successfulReal Historyseriesand the only current illustrated book on a misunderstood and mysterious topic. From the fall of Nazi Germany to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a cold war raged between the US and the Soviet Union. Though not a shot was fired, the hostility between the two superpowers threatened the globe with nuclear annihilation. Axelrod reveals the intriguing, suspenseful true story behind this globe-spanning battle of wills, and as always, he's created a study that's authoritative, comprehensive, and a pleasure to read. Judiciously, incisively, he probes the pivotal events of the era: the Marshall Plan; the iron curtain; the Berlin airlift; the Cuban missile crisis; the rise and fall of Joesph McCarthy; the Korean War; the Vietnam War; the arms race. Rarely seen illustrations, detail-packed sidebars, maps, stats, quotes, alternate takes, and "reality checks" to popular myths make this a work general readers will turn to and enjoy.