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At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War. By Thomas C. Reed. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. 368 pages. $25.95. Reviewed by Joseph R. Cerami, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.
Thomas Reed has done a great service in writing his insider's Cold War history. As a member of the generation-just-after the greatest generation, he has a unique view of the story's beginning, middle, and end. During his promotional tour, he points out that he wrote this book because other recent Cold War authors have "wrote it wrong" (to paraphrase Yogi Berra's criticism of a best-selling Joe DiMaggio biography). So, like Yogi, as someone who was there, he felt a duty to set the record straight.
Reed's resume includes top-level assignments, including secretary of the Air Force, Director of National Reconnaissance, Special Assistant on the National Security Council, and Consultant to the Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The story covers the Cold War by tracing Reed's career, starting off as the young Cornell engineering graduate (top of his class) who enters the Air Force as a lieutenant, works in nuclear development labs, observes a nuclear test, rises as a public manager, is present at the creation of the cyber/information age, becomes a Republican Party fundraiser and campaign manager, joins the Reagan Revolution as a member of the National security Council staff, and runs high-tech companies...