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 Khrushchevs plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantnamo 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 Khrushchevrational, intelligent men separated by an ocean of ideological suspicionagonize over the possibility of war. He shows how these two leaders recognized the terrifying realities of the nuclear age while Castronever swayed by conventional political considerationsdemonstrated 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 dictators overthrow.
Based on exhaustive new research and told in breathtaking prose, here is a riveting account of historys most dangerous hours, full of lessons for our time.
Rate Points :5.0
Binding :Hardcover
Label :Knopf
Manufacturer :Knopf
ProductGroup :Book
Studio :Knopf
Publisher :Knopf
EAN :9781400043583
Price :$28.95USD
Lowest Price :$16.00USD
Customer ReviewsBrilliant chronicle and sobering analysis of defining Cold War event
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1
In the long list of books chronicling events of the Cold War, Mr. Dobbs "One Minute to Midnight" stands out as a brilliant depiction of a dangerous moment when all fears threatened to come true, and as a thorough analysis of the operational and political realities converging from all sides in late October 1962.
Now that significant documentation (though not all) is available from Soviet, Cuban, and American sources, the narrative takes us through the events of those unforgettable days from the Soviet, Cuban and American perspectives. It is splendidly organized so that chronologically one is kept abreast of what is occurring simultaneously in Moscow, Havana, Washington and all other pertinent locations. The viewpoints are not only those of the mighty players, but illustrates the many strands in play at the time: the dispersal of American jets that could have caused a nuclear accident in Indiana, the vicissitudes of a CIA-organized Cuban guerrilla operation against a nickel mine in Cuba, the difficulties of the Soviet military in deploying missiles in Cuban terrain and in temperatures the likes of which they had never experienced before, the mandates under which they operated to preserve secrecy such as wearing sport shirts in lieu of uniforms. Scenes of high policy discussion and power politics analysis are immesurably enriched by immediate, vivid details about their implementation.
One learns of the relative readiness of the great powers during the first nuclear confrontation in the history of the world, and the shortcomings that only future technological developments were able to overcome. For example, the U.S. was not able to detect that ships carrying critical Soviet materials to Cuba were turned around and returned to the USSR until 24 hours after the turnaround occurred faulty American positioning techniques placed Soviet ships and submarines much closer to the American line of blockade than they ever were Americans learned from the crisis that Soviet Foxtrot submarines (with nuclear tipped torpedoes) could operate with impunity off the U.S. east coast whereas prior assumptions had restricted them to the Arctic.
The insights into how the Cold War was managed tumble from page to page, and are particularly enlightening to readers who, though young during the period, were aware of what was going on in the world though perhaps under a different set of perceptions and assumptions.
Of course, the various alternatives discussed and their political and strategic implications for each side have been previously analysed in other texts, but, I suggest, never with such precision and economy as here. The author aims at accuracy and demythologizing prior narratives. He succeeds admirably, and provides sufficient back-up to allow me to make such an affirmation.
It could be argued that, strategically, the Missile Crisis set the course of the Cold War until the Gorbachev era. Among other things, it led to the fall of Khruschev and the Soviet rethinking of its nuclear policy. It provided clear limitations to how far one side could go in testing or provoking the other. It showed each side the technological shortcomings that needed to be overcome to ensure an effective balance of terror and to prevent war by "accident." On a more provincial plane, it ensured that Cuba would not be attacked by the U.S. for the next forty-six years and counting.
The sobering tale of those days in October is one that we need to be reminded of from time to time. Mr. Cobb has done a great service in shedding new, comprehensive lights on them. If one is to read only one text on the Missile Crisis, this should be it. That it reads like a hard to put down thriller makes it even better.
In an era that threatens rogue nuclear proliferation, the Cuban Missile Crisis, is vital, if nothing else, as a reminder of the force that can be mustered by an angry power, and that its most effective use is to make peace prevail. But one cannot ignore the uncertainty of historical events. Neither America nor any adversary can really count on good luck.
Suspensefull and well written
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1
Finished this one in 9 days - it was truly engaging and very suspenseful, particularly when one considers that everything is true and well-documented by a talented and sophisticated writter. I recommend.
I remember we were so close
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :2
This book is breathtaking. I was six years old when it all happened. I have read much on the Cuban Missile Crisis and thought all that could be said was said. However, I have been proved wrong. There is new information that reveals just how close we came to nuclear war. It is a book that reveals the humanness of Kennedy and Khruschev and the situations of mischance that can lead to resolution of conflcit or catastrophe.
Young people of this generation should read this book and learn its lessons for the future. Perhaps former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said it best in his film, "Fog of War": "The indefinte exsitence of nuclear weapons and human faliibility will destroy nations." Enough said, read the book!
The Evil That Little Men Do
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1
This is the story of a few despicable, egotistical ideologues who held the fate of millions on their finger tips in a high stakes game of chicken in October, 1962. Fidel Castro was understandably pssed at the U.S. for her repeated attempts at sabotaging his beloved revolution, but thats hardly justification for insisting on a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. military and population at large. And the man who started it all was none other than Mr. Khrushchev, who came to his senses one minute to midnight to avoid a disaster of monumental proportions, and decided Castro was too trigger happy to be entrusted with launch codes to Russian nukes. Mr. Khrushchev was under the mistaken belief that his military would secretly transfer over 40,000 Russian troops and install a ridiculous number of nuclear weapons pointed at the U.S. from Cuba.
Perhaps the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis were necessary to convince the crackheads with the power to start nuclear wars that this wasnt such a swell idea afterall. Once the nuclear machination was set in motion, neither JFK, nor Khrushchev was in complete control of events. As JFK eloquently stated, "Theres always some sonofabitch who doesnt get the word," referring to a little man (a minor player) taking a course of action, whether accidentally or deliberately, that can culminate in an all out nuclear war. There were a few of these instances detailed in "One Minute To Midnight".
Through meticulous research, Mr. Dobbs has pieced together an unbiased account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, with new revelations that is sure to keep even history buffs entertained.
What an eye opener!
Rating Point :5 Helpful Point :1
Ive read background material on the Cuban Missile Crisis before but this book had a lot of vignettes from individuals, both on the Communist side and the American side, who saw first hand what was happening as both sides headed towards open war over the use of Cuba as a missile base. Much of it was information which has only recently become available, such as the existence of Soviet nuclear-armed cruise missiles staged to take out the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo.
This book does not serve as a hagiography of JFK, which as much as I admire him for standing up to Kruschev would be inappropriate. He made the right decisions and adverted all-out war which would have at least killed millions. It is also interesting for the acknowledgement that as much as leaders give orders it is the people on the ground who wind up determining how those orders are carried out... with the result that no leader has complete control in such a crisis situation.
I must say, however, that the author detracts from his entire work by attempting to make it "relevent" to our situation today by doing some sniping at President George W. Bush, which is not only necessary but also completely out of context. Its like a joke I heard once... back in the sixties someone told a Japanese singer that before he recorded a song for U.S. release he would have to add some whistling. "No one will listen to your song if it doesnt have some whistling in it." Well nowadays it seems like a book cant be considered serious unless it has some Bush-bashing in it. Maybe theyll start putting anti-Bush sections in cook books next.
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