Using government memoranda, personal letters, and newspaper articles the cuban missile crisis, details the actual events of the political history, while explaining widespread public response. The missiles of october and days were only half the story. The cuban missile crisis is the defining moment of john kennedys presidency. The authors draw on newly available documents to provide a comprehensive treatment of its causes, events, consequences, and significance. Cinclant historical account of cuban crisis 1963, serial. Every sentence in the above paragraph describing the cuban missile crisis is misleading or erroneous. Step by step, robert kennedy gets us through those perilous days when a misunderstanding, a. The cuban missile crisis was a time of heightened confrontation between the soviet union, the united states, and cuba during the cold war. Written like a thriller, one minute to midnight is an exhaustively researched account of what arthur schlesinger, jr. Leave it to the canadians to write the best short volume on the cuban missile crisis that probably exists. Reading lists cuban missile crisiscuban missile crisis. List of books and articles about cuban missile crisis. Focusing on the participants military activities, michael dobbs offers sobering new information about the 1962 cuban missile crisis.
The volume contains an edited transcript of the hawks cay florida. Abram chayes, now at harvard law school, was legal advisor to the state department during the cuban missile crisis, and he has been concerned with the subject ever since. On its surface, the cuban missile crisis involved a single discrete set of circumstances. In october 1962, at the height of the cold war, the united states and the soviet union came to the brink of nuclear conflict ove the deployment of soviet missiles. Harvard kennedy schools belfer center has created this site as a resource for the cuban missile crisis.
Cuba and the missile crisis article pdf available in journal of latin american studies 2212. Most of what you know about the cuban missile crisis is wrong. Cuban missile crisis simple english wikipedia, the free. This book explains the critical events, along with the experiences of those who execute presidential commands in. How cuba won the missile crisis the world from prx. Castro, mikoyan, kennedy, khrushchev, and the missiles of november by sergo mikoyan, ed. New book reveals untold story of the cuban missile crisis. Jul, 2006 leave it to the canadians to write the best short volume on the cuban missile crisis that probably exists. In russia, it is known as the caribbean crisis russian. Yet the late cuban leader fidel castro, us president john f. Kennedys determination to reverse that deployment and climaxed during the famous days.
Oct 22, 2012 childhood memories of the cuban missile crisis its been 50 years since the cuban missile crisis had the u. Kennedy and soviet premier nikita khrushchev, were able to prevent the worstcase scenario from taking place. A history of the cuban missile crisis during the cold war. The book was released in 1969, a year after his assassination. The authors, some of whom were participants in the crisis, have all had a major role in bringing to light either significant reevaluations of the crisis, or in some cases, truly startling revelations of the extant wisdom. Discover librarianselected research resources on cuban missile crisis from the questia online library, including fulltext online books, academic journals. Washington, dc, october 10, 2012 in november 1962, cuba was preparing to become the first nuclear power in latin americaat the time when the kennedy administration thought that the cuban missile crisis was long resolved and the soviet missiles were out. His new book marshals irrefutable evidence to succinctly demolish the mythic version of the crisis.
The cuban missile crisis edinburgh university press. This book explains the critical events, along with the experiences of those who execute presidential commands in times of national crisis. The study, financed by the carnegie corporation and the old dominion foundation mellon, adds little new except a 1968 letter from n. This collection of formerly secret records includes correspondence between john f. On october 26, 1963, nikita khrushchev contacted president kennedy and offered to remove the missiles from cuba in exchange for a promise that the united states would not invade the island nation. The cuban missile crisis of october 1962 has been called the single most serious moment in human history. But long hidden tape recordings by the president show his vice president was the first adviser to endorse the swap. Cuban relations, without whose understanding it would be foolish to claim any pointed analysis on the subject. A memoir of the cuban missile crisis paperback november 17, 1999. Cuba was a little close for comfort, so in 1959, when its government was overthrown by big bad communists, america went through a series of fumbled attempts at. Castro, the missile crisis, and the soviet collapse pantheon books. Two newsworthy 1987 conferences on the cuban missile crisis are the focus of blight and welchs extraordinary piece of scholarship.
New book reveals untold story of the cuban missile crisis 12. An analysis of the three main foreign affairs during john f. A day later on october 27th, khrushchev sent a letter proposing that the soviet union would dismantle their. Childhood memories of the cuban missile crisis its been 50 years since the cuban missile crisis had the u. Aerial reconnaissance during the cuban missile crisis by capt. Thirtysix years after the cuban missile crisis, these declassified documents stand as testament to just how dangerously close the world came to nuclear destruction in 1962, and challenge the official history of the event as a model of crisis management. Cia documents on the cuban missile crisis, 1962 declassified version, 1992, by united states central intelligence agency, ed. Popular cuban missile crisis books meet your next favorite book.
Cuban missile crisis, 1962, major cold war confrontation between the united states and the soviet union. As the revolutionary icon who left an indelible mark on history is mourned, we look at what lessons the cuban missile crisis offers todays political leaders on how to. The executive committee of the national security council excomm, meeting in the white house cabinet room, sorted through intelligence and advised the president during the cuban missile crisis. Cuban missile crisis to detente introduction shmoop. Examines one of the most dramatic and dangerous episodes in world history. At midday, and again in the early evening of october 16, 1962, john f. Jfk and the aftermath of the cuban missile crisis norton, 2012. However, the soviet and the cuban leadership knew that the most dangerous weapons of the crisistactical lunas and. Sep 14, 2012 most books on the cuban missile crisis tell the story through the perspective of memoirs of those who advised president kennedy, as he struggled to avoid world war iii. Jul 31, 2008 i have an ap class that requires that i write a book report on two books, one fiction, one nonfiction. Most books on the cuban missile crisis tell the story through the perspective of memoirs of those who advised president kennedy, as he struggled to avoid world war iii. Stressing the importance of context in relation to. Welch distill the best current scholarship on the cuban missile crisis into a brief narrative history.
During the 40 years of the cold war, it was the closest the united states and the soviet union ever came to nuclear war. We were in our third year, none of us 15 yet, and we were walking in the valley of the. Step by step, robert kennedy gets us through those perilous days when a misunderstanding, a misstep could certainly have cause the end of mankind. What are some of the best nonfiction books on the cuban. Coleman, a university of virginia professor specializing in nuclear. The objectivity of sergo mikoyan is highly questionable, for the obvious reason that he is writing about his own father and is hardly going to present his father in an. In the nuclear age, direct confrontation with the soviet empire simply became too dangerous to contemplatea fact dramatized with terrifying clarity by the 1962 cuban missile crisis. Late the night before, the cia had produced detailed photo intelligence identifying soviet nuclear missile installations under construction on the island of cuba, some ninety miles off the florida coast. The cuban missile crisis and international law a book. The book incorporates all the latest historiography on the topic. The cuban missile crisis, also known as the october crisis of 1962 spanish. In london, protesters stage a sitin against war over the cuban missile crisis oct.
This book tells the story of the cuban missile crisis in 1962, the struggle that president kennedy and his advisers including the author, who was head of intelligence at the state department went through to try to understand why the soviet union had put nuclear missiles in cuba, the alternative policies they debated to deal with the presence of the missiles, the aftermath of the crisis, and. For many years historians of the cuban missile crisis have concentrated on those thirteen days in october 1962 when the world teetered. A concise history, second edition, don munton and david a. Designed to help policymakers, students, and interested citizens draw lessons from these critical events half a century ago, this site not only provides background on the crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster in october 1962 but also offers tools to understand how. List of books and articles about cuban missile crisis online. I chose the book because i was interested in the cold war and i knew little about the cuban missile crisis. Fidel castro centre for international governance innovation. The crisis for the united states from the cuban missile in the time of the cold war.
New books on the cuban missile crisis the fourteenth day. Kennedy called together a group of his closest advisers at the white house. Welch distill the best current scholarship on the cuban missile crisis into a brief and accessible narrative history. If you want a more tacticallevel perspective on the cuban missile crisis, check out blue moon over cuba. Svetlana savranskaya mikoyan archive reveals cuba a nearnuclear power new book shows crisis unresolved until november 22, 1962. The cuban missile crisis hardcover jonathan colman.
The cuban missile crisis origins, course and aftermath. Kennedy s account of the cuban missile crisis of 1962. Kennedy library, sta26162 the cuban missile war was the most devastating war in world history. A memoir of the cuban missile crisis kennedy, robert f. This book provides a lucid and uptodate introduction to the crisis, including american responsibility for causing it, and cubas role as an important actor rather. Books about the cuban missile crisis history of cuba. Kennedys account of the cuban missile crisis of 1962. Another figure i aim to rehabilitate with my book is lyndon baines johnson whoaccording to bobby kennedycontributed nothing to the cuban missile crisis. The cuban missile crisis by divine, r a and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The new book is titled the cuban missile crisis in american memory. The crisis was a defining moment in the presidency of john f.
Stern, worked as a historian at the kennedy library in boston from 1977 to. Monday, october 15, 1962 the 15th was the first of thirteen days filled with tension and panic for president kennedy and his select officials that he chose to help him resolve the crisis. Based on secret transcripts of toplevel diplomacy undertaken by the numbertwo soviet leader, anastas mikoyan, to settle the cuban missile crisis in 1962, this book rewrites conventional history. But this was the rendition of events that the kennedy administration fed to a credulous press. I would highly recommend this title to any highschooler. Learning from the missile crisis history smithsonian magazine. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The cuban missile crisis chapter 4 the cambridge history. In six concise chapters, alice george introduces the history of cold war america and contextualizes its political, social, and cultural legacy. Learning from the missile crisis history smithsonian. Most of what you know about the cuban missile crisis is.
It is anastas mikoyans cuban missile crisis, and it is a translation of a book written by mikoyans son, sergo mikoyan. Here you can also read castro secret speech to cubas communist party leadership in 1968. Cuban missile crisis, major confrontation at the height of the cold war that brought the united states and the soviet union to the brink of a shooting war in october 1962 over the presence of soviet nucleararmed missiles in cuba. Cuban missile crisis, 1962 sources cia documents on the cuban missile crisis, 1962 declassified version, 1992, by united states central intelligence agency, ed. Thirteen days is a look from within about the cuban missile crisis. Cuban missile crisis, 1962 first edition by detzer, david isbn. In response to the bay of pigs invasion and other american actions against cuba as well as to president kennedys buildup in italy and turkey of u. Khrushchevs secret dispatch of nuclear missiles to fidel castros revolutionary cuba and us president john f. See also whats at your library, or elsewhere broader terms. Learning from the missile crisis what really happened on those thirteen fateful days in october during the cuban missile crisis, soviet warheads on cuban soil could have attacked many major u. The cuban missile crisis revisited is a comprehensive overview of the great cornucopia of new materials recently released by the soviet union, united states, and cuba.
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