Thoroughly researched and with the pacing of a thriller, "One Minute to Midnight" is an authoritative chronicle of the tense days surrounding the Cuban missile crisis.

Reviews

Washington Post reporter Dobbs (Saboteurs) is a master at telling stories as they unfold and from a variety of perspectives. In this re-examination of the 1963 Bay of Pigs face-off between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., Dobbs combines visits to Cuba, discussions with Russian participants and fingertip command of archival and printed U.S. sources to describe a wild ride that--contrary to the myth of Kennedy¿s steel-nerved crisis management--was shaped by improvisation, guesswork and blind luck. Dobbs¿s protagonists act not out of malevolence, incompetence or machismo. Kennedy, Khrushchev and their advisers emerge as men desperately seeking a handle on a situation no one wanted and no one could resolve. In a densely packed, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative, Dobbs presents the crisis from its early stages through the decision to blockade Cuba and Kennedy¿s ordering of DEFCON 2, the last step before an attack, to the final resolution on October 27 and 28. The work¿s climax is a detailed reconstruction of the dry-mouthed, sweaty-armpits environment of those final hours before both sides backed down. From first to last, this sustains Dobbs¿s case that "crisis management" is a contradiction in terms. (June 5) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

What really happened during the Cuban missile crisis; with a three-city tour. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

"Extraordinary. . . . As gripping as any fiction. Dobbs is an impeccable researcher and reporter." --"The Christian Science Monitor""A book with sobering new information about the world's only superpower nuclear confrontation--as well as contemporary relevance . . . Filled with insights that will change the views of experts and help inform a new generation."--Richard Holbrooke, "The New York Times Book Review""Riveting and highly informative, One Minute to Midnight portrays the intense human drama of mankind on the brink of an unthinkable war."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer""Gripping.... A significant contribution to our understanding of that perilous autumn."--"Bloomberg News""[Dobbs] succeeds brilliantly, marshaling diverse sources to relate an intensely human story of Americans, Russians and Cubans caught up in what the late historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. termed 'the most dangerous moment in human history' . . . [Filled] with memorable characters in extraordinary circumstances an