I Don't Understand the History of the Soviet Union

i grew up when i was a young boy. I took an interest in political thrillers, primarily tom clancy. An a key part of the story arc of tom clancy's jack ryan series involved the conflict between the soviet union and the united states. And it opened my eyes to the revisionist history that many people had argued with regard to the sovie union. It left me very confused. How on earth is it the case that there's all this hard evidence for the american investment in thesoviet union but yet this is not how it happened? That doesn't fit the standard history a that i was taught. But beyond that, i don't