What really happened when the world’s two greatest superpowers went head to head during the Cold War? We Now Know is a major reappraisal of the struggle for political and ideological supremacy between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Published in 1997 by Pulitzer Prize-winning American John Lewis Gaddis—“The Dean Of Cold War Historians” according to the New York Times—We Now Know uses fascinating and previously unavailable source material. New documents from the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe allow Gaddis to produce the first-ever comparative international history of the Cold War.

The book takes a detailed look at this unique conflict, putting forward new theories about why two ideologically opposed empires rose up and how their long power struggle dominated international affairs.

Gaddis received America’s prestigious National Humanities Medal for “deepening the nation’s understanding” and We Now Know is still crucial to anyone fascinated by this incredible period in international history.