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One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War [Paperback]

Michael Dobbs
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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Book Description

2 April 2009

October 27, 1962, a day dubbed Black Saturday in the Kennedy White House. The Cuban missile crisis is at its height, and the world is drawing ever closer to nuclear apocalypse.

As the opposing Cold War leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, mobilize their forces to fight a nuclear war on land, sea and air, the world watches in terror. In Bobby Kennedy's words, 'There was a feeling that the noose was tightening on all of us, on Americans, on mankind, and that the bridges to escape were crumbling.'

In One Minute to Midnight Michael Dobbs brings a fresh perspective to this crucial moment in twentieth-century history. Using a wealth of untapped archival material, he tells both the human and the political story of Black Saturday, taking the reader into the White House, the Kremlin and along the entire Cold War battlefront.

Dobbs's thrilling narrative features a cast of characters - including Soviet veterans never before interviewed by a western writer - with unique stories to tell, witnesses to one of the greatest mobilizations of men and equipment since the Second World War.


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One Minute To Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War + Thirteen Days [DVD] [2001]
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Product details

  • Paperback: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow (2 April 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099492458
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099492450
  • Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.9 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 19,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

Mesmerising stuff ... a riveting hour-by-hour account of one day that could have changed the history of humanity (Joanna Bourke The Times )

[Dobbs] has made extensive use of untapped archive material to reveal the secrets of the cloak-and-dagger operations behind the nuclear stand-off in the Caribbean... Excellent (John Crossland Daily Mail )

A book with sobering new information . . . as well as contemporary relevance . . . filled with insights that will change the views of experts (Richard Holbrooke, Former Us Ambassador To The Un New York Times Book Review )

Dobb's hour-by-hour overview is a worthy study of this much mythologised fortnight . . . Dobb's chronological approach not only provides a natural sense of pace, but also allows him to illustrate the near-fatal time lag in communication between the two sides (Time Out )

In this compelling - and thrilling - new study by Michael Dobbs, there is much new material that forces us to revise our assumptions about the crisis... This is the first book about the crisis to tell the story of the tactical cruise missiles and the first to contain interviews with Soviet veterans. Dobbs adopts a cinematic style, cross-cutting between locations and time zones, and perfectly judges the acceleration of pace in the second half of the book which concentrates on Black Sunday. Unlike previous writers, Dobbs gives due prominence to the subplots, any one of which might have sparked mass destruction (Christopher Silvester Daily Express )

Book Description

Michael Dobbs recreates the 'most dangerous moment in human history' and brings the Cuban missile crisis to a new generation.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Meynell TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Michael Dobbs' account of the Cuban Missile Crisis (he's not to be confused with the British Michael Dobbs of Francis Urquhart/House of Cards fame) must surely qualify as a definitive account, at least for this generation. Despite the gallons of ink spilled over those fateful 13 days, this recent book (out in 2008) has much to offer and revise. In fact, it makes recent history a thrilling read, despite the pervasive detail, evident research and deep complexity of the events.

KENNEDY & KHRUSHCHEV ON THE SAME SIDE...
Dobbs had unprecedented access to archives and key participants from both the US and Russia - and has even managed to investigate some of the sites and accounts from the Cuban perspective. As a result, he's been able to 'triangulate' every detail, synchronising accounts from each of the perspectives of Moscow, Havana and Washington. He offers a day by day account of the days leading up to what became known as Black Saturday (Saturday 27th October 1962), and then an hour by hour account of the day itself. One of the book's big themes is the fragility of the peace, even <em>after</em> the two leaders had themselves become determined to find a peaceful solution.
"The question the world confronted during what came to be known as the Cuban missile crisis was who controlled history: the men in suits, the men with beards, the men in uniform, or nobody at all? In this drama, Kennedy ended up on the same side as his ideological nemesis, Nikita Khrushchev. Neither man wanted war. They both felt an obligation to future generations to rein in the dark, destructive demons they themselves had helped to unleash.
... Read more ›
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
First, this is NOT written by the Michael Dobbs who wrote 'House of Cards' etc.

It IS written by the Belfast-born Washington Post reporter, noted for his non-fiction work on the Soviet Union as well as his war reporting from the Former Yugoslavia.

The `headline' story of the events of October are known to many and has at least in the West been `mythicised' into a story of President Kennedy's blockade standing firm and the Soviet ships backing away.

Dobbs has taken full advantage of the latest disclosures and has created a book that adds facts, depth and dimension to this shorthand version. He compares and contrasts events at specific times in Cuba, Washington and Moscow as well as Soviet SAM sites and the cockpits of American aircraft. In doing this is, he has produced a factual book with (at times) the pace of a thriller, sketching many characters - famous and otherwise - and their own stories in the enfolding drama.

The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when I was a very small child and in unfolded mainly in places thousands of miles away. This book not only has kept my interest but has sparked me to read more about this world event.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By C. Ball TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The title of this book refers to the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic clock which charts how close mankind is to global catastrophe, which is obviously 'midnight'. The clock was never adjusted during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the events of which took place over too short a period for the clock to be 'officially' adjusted, but had it been one minute is probably a pretty accurate adjustment. This book takes an hour-by-hour overview of the thirteen days of the Missile Crisis, from the American, Soviet and Cuban viewpoints. It includes a lot of information that has only recently come to light, such as the Soviet tactical nuclear weapons that were aimed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base or the American U-2 spy-plane that got lost during a routine mission over the North Pole and strayed in Soviet airspace right at the height of the confrontation. It's a very good book, and the hour-by-hour format really makes you appreciate the tension of the major players and how close things came. Dobbs also makes you realise, by charting not just the actions of Kennedy and Khrushchev, but the soldiers and civilians on the ground, how much of an illusion control is and how easily things could have spiralled beyond retreat or redemption.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging 17 Aug 2009
Format:Paperback
Unlike other reviewers I find its style easy to read and never turgid as other books on the subject can be. There is a good mix of major and minor 'characters' and it does portray the fact that much of what was happening was out of the control of Kennedy et al, and that minor characters could have had such a huge bearing on the outcome. It also is astonishing how slow communications where in the early 1960's.

If you have time its a good idea to Google the crisis because many of the conversations between Kennedy and his advisors are online and illuminate many of the passages in the book. He only really mentions 2 or 3 times that something is 'new' and the new things are not sensationalist items but new slants on accepted events. This is not a "revisionist" book or one hunting for a 'sexy' angle but pretty good history made accessible.

Well worth the read and again really lets you realize how out of control the politicians were of the situation and how incompetence and army bravado could have led to a dangerous situation becoming cataclysmic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Gives great insight into the Cuban missile crisis
Great for anyone who wants to know the tiny details of the Cuban missile crisis. It goes into great depth and is really interesting!
Published 1 month ago by Lizzy Marrington
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent history
A must read for those interested in this period of history and JFK. Having lived through this time, it was hard to realise how close we did come to a nuclear war. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. P. G. Aylott
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing
A must have, one of the best books I have ever read! Dobbs doesn't only make you read another historical story, No, in one minute to midnight you live this historical story that... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Pen Name
5.0 out of 5 stars A great historic account from the viewpoint of all involved in the...
Having a fascination with American history and particularly the Cuban Missile Crises, I have read many books relating to this subject, however, this book stands head and shoulders... Read more
Published 4 months ago by The Warwick Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book that is well wriiten
My sister bought this most excellent book for me as a Christmas present, and it is a present I was grateful to receive. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. Antoni S. Chmielowski
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable to read and informative
Michael Dobbs's account of the Cuban Missile Crisis makes for an absorbing read. Dobbs uses his experience as a journalist to construct his thoroughly-researched facts into an... Read more
Published 6 months ago by alextorres
5.0 out of 5 stars gripping and detailed
This is a systematic account of the Cuban missile crisis from the American, Soviet and Cuban points of view. Read more
Published 8 months ago by John Hopper
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
Superbly researched and brilliantly written. Paints portraits of the main protagonists and the bit part players in fascinating detail. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Rick
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent History
This is a really outstanding book - so well structured, paced and written. As mentioned elsewhere, although we know the outcome, this is a compulsive page-turner. Read more
Published 14 months ago by David Buckden
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling story
It is very scary to read how close we all were to a nuclear war. It is well researched and well written. Compelling
Published 17 months ago by AltonBob
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