Without George Shultz, Ronald Reagan could not have achieved the most important foreign policy accomplishment of his presidency: the unwinding of the Cold War. Shultz’s gift for forging relationships and his passion for finding practical solutions to complex challenges allowed him to alter the arc of history during the Reagan administration, often in the face of withering resistance. His prescient warnings in recent years about climate change, technological advances and Russian expansionism set him apart from an increasingly illiberal Republican Party. With the help of exclusive access to Shultz’s papers — including a secret diary maintained by one of his executive assistants while Shultz was secretary of state — longtime New York Times reporter and editor Philip Taubman chronicles Shultz’s life and provides an insider account of his struggle to gain command of American foreign policy.