{"product_id":"from-the-shadows-the-ultimate-insiders-story-of-five-presidents-and-how-they-won-the-cold-war-9780684810812","title":"From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe only person to rise from entry-level analyst to Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and to serve on the White House staffs of four Presidents  Robert M. Gates knows firsthand the deepest secrets of the Cold War. Drawing on his personal experiences in the CIA and on the National Security Council staff in the White House  as well as on intimate knowledge of CIA documents and activities never before revealed  Gates tells how the Cold War was really fought. From Nixons detente policy to Reagans arming of the Mujahedin in their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan  he tells the true story of American policy toward the Soviet Union  placing special emphasis on the White House and the CIA. Gates shows that  contrary to conventional wisdom  there was extraordinary continuity of policy from one President to the next  most strikingly from Carter to Reagan: the former laid the foundations for many of the latters policies  including CIA covert action in the Third World  efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the Soviet regime at home  continued strategic modernization  and the conduct of economic warfare against the USSR - policies all dramatically expanded and pursued with enthusiasm by Reagan. Brimming with eyewitness accounts of historic meetings  epic internal battles over policy  secret missions  covert operations  and other intelligence activities  From the Shadows challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the events and personalities of the period. Among Gatess revelations: Carters covert program to encourage the dissident movement and provoke ethnic unrest in the USSR  and how the State Department and the CIA secretly collaborated to block the effort; CIA predictions of a conservative coup against Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Union  two years before these events occurred; CIA and KGB \"black operations\" against each other; the secret relationship between Pope John Paul II and the Kremlin; the three secret CIA-KGB \"summits.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45656613158965,"sku":"ByrdShop_0684810816","price":34.07,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780684810812.jpg?v=1781981249","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/from-the-shadows-the-ultimate-insiders-story-of-five-presidents-and-how-they-won-the-cold-war-9780684810812","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}