Andrew Wilson's 1968 book was the first to describe for the general
reader the evolution of the war game as a serious, and sometimes
unreliable, military planning tool. The author was the Defence
Correspondent to the Observer Newspaper. He was granted special access
to the Pentagon and other secret sources of information and interviewed
many leading experts on policy-making on both sides of the Atlantic. The
result was an authoritative and readable work on the subject that was
directly related to the precarious balance of power in the Cold War. The
book demonstrates how crucial war games were in American weapon
development, foreign policy and war fighting plans during the dark days
of the Cold War. The book is published by the History of Wargaming
Project as part of a series to make key developments in wargaming
available to the modern enthusiast.