Khrushchev's Cold War

Book excerpt: "Nikita Khrushchev has long remained one of the most enigmatic leaders of the twentieth century; his motivation and decision-making process have puzzled seasoned Kremlin watchers, U.S. presidents, and a generation of historians. In Khrushchev's Cold War, a sequel to their international history of the Cuban missile crisis, Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali use new archival sources to provide a detailed and dramatic look through Soviet eyes at the most dangerous years of the Cold War. Drawing from their unrivaled access to Politburo and Soviet intelligence materials, they render a detailed account of Khrushchev's rise to power in 1955, his years at the helm of the Soviet Union, and his eventual ouster in 1964."--BOOK JACKET.