One Minute to Midnight

Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War

By: Michael Dobbs

Narrated by: Bob Walter

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 Khrushchev’s plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; 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 Khrushchev agonize over the possibility of war. He shows how these two leaders recognized the terrifying realities of the nuclear age while Castro - never swayed by conventional political considerations - demonstrated the messianic ambition of a man selected by history for a unique mission. 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 dictator’s overthrow.

©2008 Michael Dobbs (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"One Minute to Midnight is nothing less than a tour de force, a dramatic, nail-biting page-turner that is also an important work of scholarship. Michael Dobbs combines the skills of an experienced investigative journalist, a talented writer, and an intelligent historical analyst. His research is stunning. No other history of the Cuban missile crisis matches this achievement." (Martin Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus)

"[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 and exotic settings...One Minute to Midnight evokes novelists like Alan Furst, John le Carré or Graham Greene." (James G. Hershberg, The Washington Post Book World)

"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)

On the verge of annihilation.

In October 1962, my Troop Carrier Air Force Reserve Squadron at the Air Force Reserve section (now gone) of O'Hare Field was activated because of the "Cuban Crisis." During the day my day job was to "play soldier" (the Army equivalent of a Clerk/Typist) and at night I would drive to my home on Chicago's south side. No one worried about nuclear incineration, and in due course we were deactivated and returned to our civilian careers. It is truly said that ignorance is bliss. If I had know then what I know now, after reading One Minute to Midnight, I don't think I would have slept as soundly as I did. That's why I listened to this book, and why I recommend it. Somewhat more detailed than necessary, it discusses some facts never before disclosed, and points out that the Soviets kept secret for over 40 years that they had deployed tactical nukes in Cuba, in addition to Intercontinental Missiles that targeted, among many other U.S. cities, Washington and New York! I simply never realized how close we came to Armaggedon. Worth reading if you lived through it, and for historical purposes if you didn't, but it brings home the fact that Kennedy and Khrushchev were both level-headed leaders that understood the horrors of war and were therefore able to avoid it, that Castro was willing to plunge the world into nuclear holocaust for the sake of his revolution, and that the "terrorist world" in which we now live does not seem to have the same rational inhibitions to prevent it should a similar confrontation again arise. Well worth your time, especially if your a student of 20th century American history.

Thanks Dan Carlin!

After listening to a Dan Carlin Hardcore History episode, I thought to check out this book. Well worth the read! Exciting and frightening 13 days in October with new information about how very close we came to atomic warfare.

More details and good analysis!

I was surprised by many new details included in this book! I think the analysis is excellent

Excellent

one of my favorites, a must reader, back to back. intense, riveting and thrilling.

Solid Account

Great retelling of the Cuban Missile Crisis during the 13 days of October 1962. Great uncovered facts, too. Well performed!

Excellently Researched Account

Excellently researched account of one of the most interesting and frightening two-week periods in history. There's some new information here and dispelling of some mythology that has grown surrounding the crisis.

The only negative thing I will say about the book is regarding the afterword. The afterword makes clear that the author is quite enamored with JFK and seems to hold some animosity toward GW Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. I find the comparison unfair and distasteful, given the fact that we have the benefit of more than 50 years hindsight and many unclassified documents and records in the case of JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis and much, much less I. The case of GWB and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. To the author's credit, the afterword is definitely the place for opinions and personal thoughts, so at least this occurs in the correct place and form. I just don't care for unbalanced, unfair conclusions or political opinions.

Excellent

Engrossing, excellent written and narrated. Full perspective on elements of Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm glad to have read it.

A little scattered

A good book, but the details get a little jumbled. I didn't rate any lower because I'm sure the book format would suit better than an audiobook. Still an interesting listening, I just had a hard time connecting all the dots of the story.

Whew! That was close!

Interesting background information. It was certainly a close shave to nuclear Armageddon. We were lucky to have a steady hand at the helm.

High stakes

Great story with a lot of background. Narrator irritatingly mispronounces the word signal throughout the recording as sing-nall.