From the Cold War to a New Era: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1983-1991

Don Oberdorfer, former diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Post, chronicles the ending of the cold war in this updated edition of his 1991 book The Turn (a new chapter covers events from the May 1990 summit in Washington to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union in the last days of 1991). Ronald Reagan, who began his presidency with startlingly harsh rhetoric toward the Soviet Union, reached out to the Soviets just as their government, to everyone's eventual surprise, was about to collapse from within. The following years were full of dramatic twists, such as the fast succession of Soviet leaders following the death of Leonid Brezhnev, the controversy over the Soviets shooting down a Korean airliner in 1983, the unlikely emergence of Reagan as a summiteer in Geneva and Reykjavik, and Gorbachev's startling perestroika reforms. Oberdorfer's reputation as a reporter got him access to key insiders on both sides, a crucial factor in the rich detail he brings to explaining a history that seemed astonishing as it unfolded. --Robert McNamara