Reviews

One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs

alexbond3's review against another edition

4.0

It’s hard to intellectually accept, even today, how close the world came to nuclear apocalypse in October 1962. It’s just a hard thing to imagine, especially given the near total lack of military conflict in or near the United States, that tens of millions of people came hours - even minutes - away from being vaporized, with literally thousands of massive mushroom clouds darkening the sky around the world. This book delves into a mountain of materials, newly unclassified after five decades, that detail just what happened, minute to minute, to bring us closer to World War III than we ever were or have been since. It’s written like a journalistic thriller. I was most struck by how savvy and cool-headed John Kennedy remained, all while dealing with a scarily instinctual, uneducated counterpart in Khrushchev, who had his own, even more unhinged and unpredictable revolutionary, Fidel Castro, shouting absurdly irresponsible demands in Khrushchev’s ear both during and after the crisis. Kennedy also had to deal with idiotically hawkish military advisors and a slew of physical ailments, not to mention his sustained philandering. Thank goodness he overcame all these obstacles, and had his brother Bobby there too to help keep him sane.

charliemudd's review against another edition

3.0

Audio book: Very well researched with a lot of good content, but a little chaotic. I understand the Cuban Missle Crisis was chaotic, but I lost track of some of the threads in this book. Probably would have been better as a read, and also if two of the discs weren't scratched and skipped. Dobbs concludes that both Kennedy and Kruschev were tyring to stop the war machine that they had both put in place, and both of them were scared of what they had started. The "eyeball to eyeball" story never happened, and Kruschev pretty much turned his ships around as soon as the quarantine was announced. Castro proved that he was emotional and crazy, as we all knew, but many of the stories that came from the crisis were untrue and hurt us by causing the hubris that was Vietnam.

dansbooks's review against another edition

3.0

Dobbs has written what amounts to an almost hour by hour account of the crisis, and brings to light new aspects of the history based on recently available archival materials, interviews and other data previously ignored. The result is a great story told in a compelling narrative - though the format also sometimes prevents drawing out lessons/analysis at any real length.

johnmarlowe's review against another edition

3.0

Excellent book. A day by day and hour by hour account of being the closest to nuclear war ever. His sources are from all three sides. Highly recommended.

librarianonparade's review against another edition

4.0

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.

richardmtl's review against another edition

5.0

Fascinating look at all the things that could have gone wrong during the crisis. Amazing how some generals were so gung-ho about going to war, though from their point of view, I guess the likely outcome of *not* going to war was that the USSR was going to shoot first. I'm kind of glad that I read [b:Back Channel|20342517|Back Channel|Stephen L. Carter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398906312s/20342517.jpg|28322755] before this one, as it gave me a bit of the foundations for what was going on, but I enjoyed this non-fiction description of those 2 weeks much more.

edsantiago's review against another edition

5.0

Forces beyond their control. Kennedy and Khrushchev had both served in the armed forces, during wartime, during a bad war. Both were acquainted with Murphy, even if they didn't know his name. Both were personally aware of the suffering war causes. Both were fighting desperately, within the confines of their political frameworks, to avoid war. Especially to avoid this kind of war.

Dobbs chronicles the crisis, describing the players and what they knew and when they knew it. And what they _thought_ they knew, which (hi, Murphy!) is so often at odds with reality. The crisis was defused because sober, intelligent, rational people made great efforts to think of consequences. To avoid them. Who do we have like that today?

1962 probably wasn't the closest we've been to Armageddon. The 1983 incident was arguably worse, and there may be others we don't know about. But 1983 was resolved swiftly, heroically, and silently by just one man. In 1962, the entire world was watching. And fortunately for us, great men acted nobly.

Dobbs's research seems impeccable. His writing is fluid and gripping. This is an important book for understanding our world. Highly recommended.