Michael Hopkins is an expert guide to the origins, development, eventual ending and ongoing legacies of the Cold War, focusing on the decisions of those who made the policies and the experiences of those who were caught up in the major crises of this highly charged period in our recent history. A geopolitical contest between NATO on one side and the Soviet Union, China and their associates on the other, it was about power and military competition, but it was also an ideological struggle between two political and economic systems. Charting the rise and fall of almost fifty years of global confrontation, this highly visual book highlights the impact of the conflict on the culture of the times, bringing home the reality of life in the shadow of the Bomb. The Cold War also contains 10 facsimile documents, including a membership card of the Communist Party of USSR, 1942 and President Truman's address to a joint session of Congress, March 1947.