Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. FIRST SKIRMISHES. The day the Cold War started / James Chace -- Cloak-and-dagger in Salzburg / Harris Greene -- The great rescue / David Clay Large -- The incident at Lang Fang / Eugene B. Sledge -- The escape of the amethyst / Simon Winchester -- II. POLICE ACTION. The United States, the U.N., and Korea / James Chace and Caleb Carr -- Truman fires MacArthur / David McCullough -- The man who saved Korea / Thomas Fleming -- The first jet war / Dennis E. Showalter -- "Murderers of Koje-do!" / Lawrence Malkin -- Strategic views: the meaning of Panmunjom / Robert Cowley -- III. THE DEEP COLD WAR. The truth about overflights / R. Cargill Hall -- The Berlin tunnel / George Fiefer -- The invasion of Cuba / Dino A. Brugioni -- Twilight zone in the Pentagon / Thomas B. Allen -- The right man / Victor Davis Hanson -- IV. VIETNAM: THE LONG GOOD-BYE. Calamity on the R.C. 4 / Douglas Porch -- Dien Bien Phu / Williamson Murray -- The general at ease: an interview with William C. Westmoreland / Laura Palmer -- The mystery of Khe Sanh / James Warren -- The evacuation of Kham Duc / Ronald H. Spector -- MIA / Marilyn Elkins -- "That's ocay XX time is on our side" / Geoffrey Norman -- The Christmas bombing / Stephen E. Ambrose -- V. THE END. The ICBM and the Cold War: technology in the driver's seat / John F. Guilmartin, Jr. -- The war scare of 1983 / John Prados -- There goes Brussels / Williamson Murray.