Avidar, a prominent Israeli general, served as ambassador in Moscow in the 1950s. Here he combines his knowledge of the Soviet Union and of military affairs to trace party-military relations in the Khrushchev period, with particular attention to the role of Marshal Zhukov. Although this is not exactly virgin territory for scholars, Avidar's study is a fine example of the uses of Sovietology to throw light into dark places, and he finds a valuable supplementary source in interviews with former Soviet officers who have emigrated to Israel.