Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story-How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War

"A rousing, well-researched biography" of the Texan piano prodigy who crossed the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War (Kirkus, starred review).
A National Book Critic's Circle Finalist

In 1958, an unheralded young pianist named Van Cliburn traveled to Moscow to compete in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition. The Soviets had no intention of bestowing their coveted prize on an unknown American; a Russian pianist had already been chosen to win. Yet when the gangly Texan with...