Mortal Rivals: Superpower Relations from Nixon to Reagan

Hyland, a Soviet specialist and editor of Foreign Affairs, served on the White House staffs of Nixon, Ford and Carter, and participated in four summit meetings between 1969 and 1977. He provides here a detailed insider's look at the unfolding of U.S.-Soviet relations with an emphasis on the question of howin a practical, face-to-face sensenegotiations actually are conducted. Hyland also witnessed the 1975 ""Halloween massacre,'' when Ford fired his secretary of defense and CIA director and relieved Henry Kissinger of his position as national security adviser, and presents an intimate glimpse of that strange episode. Appraising Kissinger's diplomatic efforts, the author concludes that ``despite Vietnam, despite Watergate, he left American foreign policy in better shape than he found it.'' (June 29)