In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear conflict over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. In this hour-by-hour chronicle of those tense days, veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs reveals just how close we came to Armageddon.Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev’s plan to destroy … Khrushchev’s plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; the handling of Soviet nuclear warheads on Cuba; and the extraordinary story of a U-2 spy plane that got lost over Russia at the peak of the crisis.
Written like a thriller, One Minute to Midnight is an exhaustively researched account of what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called “the most dangerous moment in human history,” and the definitive book on the Cuban missile crisis.
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This riveting account of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is a real nail-biter. Even though one knows that it ended without triggering a nuclear war, the tension never lets up. The book conveys very well the nightmare of decision-making when insufficient information is available and the key players, in both Washington and Moscow are brought vividly …
An excellent review of the Cuban missile crisis, told from all three sides. It includes stories of the covert CIA operations in Cuba, the motivations and attitudes of Kennedy, Castro, and Khrushchev, and the experiences of those involved in seeing the conflict through. Most scary is how the mutual lack of knowledge of the three leader’s …
Detailed and interesting read on a very critical moment in human history. Well worth the read.
I lived through this. I was in the army, with my buddies and I all sleeping on top of our racks literally with our boots on, ready to move out at a moment’s notice because we knew that our base in the States, and all the other bases around the world were very probably targeted by at least one missile. Like my buddies I was really just a dumb kid. …
The author provides new information on this frightening Cold War episode. Both leaders, Khrushchev and Kennedy feared nuclear war, but events threatened to escalate beyond their control. This detailed account provides a cautionary tale; the misinformation, missing information and wrongly ascribed motives almost ended modern civilisation.
This book filled in some blanks and helped me appreciate what really went down in 1962. I was a Marine at the time, and my outfit was aboard ship off the coast of Cuba, and we had no real knowledge of the details revealed in this book. The world was closer than we knew to a cataclysmic event that could have destroyed mankind. Powerful and …
Great book for the history buff who wants more than an outline of the events.
A very gripping and compelling read for anyone who lived thru the Cuban Missile Crisis. I absolutely enjoyed it.