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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 973.922 EAN: 9781400043583 ISBN: 1400043581 Label: Knopf Manufacturer: Knopf Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 448 Publication Date: June 03, 2008 Publisher: Knopf Release Date: June 03, 2008 Studio: Knopf Editorial Review: Product Description: In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis. In his hour-by-hour chronicle of those near-fatal days, Dobbs reveals some startling new incidents that illustrate how close we came to Armageddon. Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev’s plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; the accidental overflight of the Soviet Union by an American spy plane; the movement of Soviet nuclear warheads around Cuba during the tensest days of the crisis; the activities of CIA agents inside Cuba; and the crash landing of an American F-106 jet with a live nuclear weapon on board. Dobbs takes us inside the White House and the Kremlin as Kennedy and Khrushchev—rational, intelligent men separated by an ocean of ideological suspicion—agonize over the possibility of war. He shows how these two leaders recognized the terrifying realities of the nuclear age while Castro—never swayed by conventional political considerations—demonstrated the messianic ambition of a man selected by history for a unique mission. As the story unfolds, Dobbs brings us onto the decks of American ships patrolling Cuba; inside sweltering Soviet submarines and missile units as they ready their warheads; and onto the streets of Miami, where anti-Castro exiles plot the dictator’s overthrow. Based on exhaustive new research and told in breathtaking prose, here is a riveting account of history’s most dangerous hours, full of lessons for our time. Average Rating:
 Rating: - Outstanding History Written as a ThriilerI also remember the Cuban missile crisis. I was in college and remember the Sunday night speech and watching the Russian ships heading for the blockade line. I also was of age to idolize President Kennedy and be inspired by him. I reading Mr. Dobbs work all the memories came back. This book really covered the back stories. The CIA almost silly attempts to overthrow Castro, the mistaken U2 overflights of Russia and the lack of the ability to communicate. Also I learned for the first ... Read More Rating: - A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON A DEFINING MOMENT IN HISTORYTHIS IS A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY COMMENTARY ON A DEFINING MOMENT IN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY....WELL WORTH A READ....A RECOMMENDATION FROM SOMEONE WHO WAS ACTUALLY THERE. Rating: - Read it and be scared all over againI was in college during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Between classes we sat in the Student Union Building watching CBS News on TV, waiting for a break in the tension - or the flash of a nuclear bomb. At one point the lights went out and one of my friends yelled and dove under a sofa for cover. (Someone had bumped the light switch.) The missile crisis was a defining moment in the Cold War. After the lessons of the crisis, the US and Russia (and China) managed to avoid getting nearly that close to nuclear ... Read More Rating: - One Minute to Midnight...Extensive research and documentation of that research. Interesting insights to the personal actions of actors in this realp-life drama. One of those books that is hard to put down. For me a rare experience: I wrote the author my compliments and specific response. I recommend this book. Rating:  - Doomsday Averted This was a very good, day by day, in some cases minute by minute description of the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Certainly the topic has been done before, but Dobbs is a very thorough reporter and brings forth a lot of material I did not know about until now. And this is an event I lived through. Dobbs makes the point that the "eyeball to eyeball" event of Russian ships turning around when they saw the American blockade was an exageration, that the ships were hundreds of miles ... Read More |
