Events of the last two years have all but ended NATO's nuclear predicament-how to frighten Soviet leaders enough without scaring its own citizens too much-and so the time is ripe for taking stock. Daalder's richly documented and cleanly written history will stand as definitive until more documents are released. He breaks some new ground-about, for instance, the "mininukes" debate of the early 1970s-brings together strands of the story told in parts elsewhere, and does it all with a lucid understanding of the strategic differences that drove alliance members apart and the political stakes that pushed them together.