The aim of this reference work is to bring together a representative sample of primary source materials--treaties, speeches, legislation, diplomatic correspondence, journalism, government reports, memoirs, and oral histories--that provides a framework for understanding the major political, social, and economic events and trends of the Cold War. Some 100 documents are presented in thematic, roughly chronological, sections covering the end of World War II and the emergence of the "Iron Curtain," the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, McCarthyism, events "behind the Curtain," the hot Cold War of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Soviet-Western military rivalries and nuclear politics, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Détente and Sino-Soviet-American relations, proxy wars in Latin America and Asia, the Reagan era, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Russia in the post-Cold War era. Each section begins with an introductory overview and additional background is also provided for each document. Also included are a glossary, a chronology, a bibliography, and a subject index. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)