This volume covers much the same ground as Doder's (noted above) though playing down the aspect of continuous struggle and jockeying for power. It provides brief biographies of the five top leaders since Stalin, stressing the theme that none of them has exercised personal rule; all have been responsible to the Politburo and indirectly to the demands of the system. The book contains, necessarily, some speculation as to the cause and effect of key developments; and, less necessarily, a number of doubtful and unsubstantiated assertions about both Soviet and American policies.