Although the book has some setbacks, it is still a good piece of history that explains the struggle to end the Cold War. It focuses not only on the United States, but on the whole of Europe. The Triumph of Improvisation is not only a fascinating book, but also a book that analyzes the Cold War rather than summarizes it. It examines the specific decisions, meetings, and situations with which both the Soviet Union and the United States were forced to reconcile. The way Wilson portrays the two countries and their leaders is instructive and effectively demonstrates his thesis that the two countries, although at odds, were willing to cooperate and work with each other while slowly bending their originals