The rise and fall of communism in the Soviet Union was a key event of the twentieth century. Spanning nine decades from the reign of the tsars through the overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, it is a tale of oppression, rebellion, terror, and betrayal. It is the chronicle of a dream that failed, of a utopian vision turned to ashes. In The Cold War, the last of a four-book series covering the history of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the period between the end of World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union makes for an exciting and fast-moving narrative. A volatile era, it was marked by a series of confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union and their various allies and satellites. Its key factors were an escalating arms race, a competition to conquer space, a dangerously belligerent form of diplomacy known as brinksmanship, and a series of small wars sometimes called police actions by the United States, and sometimes excused as defense measures by the Soviets.

Ted Gottfried, a full-time writer, is the author of more than twenty-five books for young readers. These include the highly acclaimed Holocaust series, Teen Fathers Today, and several issue-oriented titles such as The Death Penalty and Should Drugs Be Legalized? The Gottfrieds live in New York City