Doug MacEachin has used his considerable skill as an intelligence analyst and historian to detail the intriguing story of the 1980-81 Polish crisis. The description of actual events on the ground, the assessment of these events by intelligence analysts and policymakers, and the US policy process, provided an interesting commentary on both the strengths and weaknesses of the process. The book describes the problem faced by intelligence analysts when they try to forecast decisions made by foreign actors before the actors themselves have decided what those decisions will be. It also highlights the danger of a current intelligence process that provides a blizzard of information without context and absent a systematic overview of events.