Product Description

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' 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #860262 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From the Back Cover
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, mobilise 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 uses a wealth of unseen archival material to tell 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 this crucial moment in twentieth-century history.

Praise for ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT:

‘A riveting, hour-by-hour account of one day that could have changed the history of humanity’ Joanna Bourke, The Times

‘Excellent… [Dobbs] has made extensive use of untapped archive material to reveal the secrets of the cloak-and-dagger operations behind the nuclear stand-off’ 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

‘A compelling – and thrilling – new study … There is much new material that forces us to revise our assumptions about the crisis’ Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

About the Author
Michael Dobbs is a reporter for the Washington Post, who devoted much of his journalistic career to covering the collapse of communism. He was the Post's bureau chief in Warsaw (1980-82), Paris (1983-86) and Moscow (1988-1993). He has held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton University and is the author of three books: Down with Big Brother (1996), Madeleine Albright (1999) and Saboteurs (2004). Down with Big Brother was a runner-up for the 1997 PEN award for non-fiction.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
Half way between a serious piece of historical documentary and an airport 'thriller'. Too near the latter for my liking. Even if you can cope with its continual self promotion ("as revealed for the first time ever, in this book ...."), then the switches between a grown up assesment of the political and military background and the sections whch read like fiction, even though I accept they may not be, then this is a tiresome trying read. It's the use of the two styles which is so difficult to cope with. Whether you want something which reads like a piece of cheap fiction or a serious analysis of an important historical event - with this book, unless you want both at the same time, you'll be disappointed. And I was so looking forward to reading this book. Avoid.