McMahon presents this survey of the Cold War with authority, insight, and balance. He takes us from the events of WWII that set the scene, to the US and Soviet disagreement over the disposition of Germany after the war, to the competing ideologies that led to a global competition, to the detente of the 70's, and to the end of the Cold War. He puts the key events and players and their correct Cold War perspective, and he doesn't shrink from making moral judgements along the way. I came away with a much firmer grasp on this important episode in our history.