Offering a ringside seat for the last exchanges of the Cold War, this book provides an account of the deal that allowed George Bush to use military force against Saddam Hussein in exchange for a Middle-East peace conference on the Palestinian issue; and of James Baker's private assurance to Eduard Shevardnadze that the United States would understand Soviet use of force in the breakaway republics. Michael Beschloss is the author of The Crisis Years, Kennedy and Roosevelt and Mayday, and Strobe Talbott wrote Endgame Deadly Gambits and Master of the Game.