The fifth book in the series, At the Dawn of the Cold War: The Soviet-American Crisis over Iranian Azerbaijan, 1941-1946 by Jamil Hasanli, discusses a hitherto little explored episode in the Cold War, the U.S.-Soviet showdown over Iran and Azerbaijan in late 1945 and early 1946.  Hasanli obtained access to the Azerbaijani archives, where he unearthed a wealth of formerly secret documentation on the crisis, including Stalin’s communications with his colleagues and with Azeri leaders.  The book provides a meticulous account of the crisis, going vastly beyond the sketchy descriptions available up to now. Hasanli draws important conclusions about Soviet policymaking and crisis management. Reviewers praised the book as “a path-breaking volume,” “an extremely important achievement,” and “a major contribution to our understanding of the origins of the Cold War” based on “a treasure trove of new documents from the Azeri and other archives.”