Stretching from the end of World War II to 1989, the Cold Warbetween the Western powers and the Communist bloc shapednational alliances around the world. Biographies presentsapproximately 50 intriguingstories of the lives and actions ofHarry Truman, Winston Churchill, JosephStalin, Mao Zedong, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and many others, both famous and less well-known.