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

This book reads like a novel. It is more exciting than any novel can be because it is based on truth and a story so frightening that it compels you to read it through to the last page, and so you must. Every page has detailed information, much of which is new, and the plots and subplots reel you in for the ride of a book reader's lifetime. I promise you that you won't put this one down.The story of this book is familiar to all that are alive. In the fall of 1962, the leadership of the Soviet Union with the complicity of Fidel Castro decided to secretly install offensive nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. They were successful until U-2 over flights of Cuba in October produced detailed photographic evidence of the Soviet plan.The details of the story have been in conflict for almost 50 years as different authors have molded the story to fit their opinions. If you read Harvard historians, John Kennedy (JFK) comes out very much the hero. Other authors have different slants. It is my contention that Michael Dobbs in One Minute to Midnight has come the closest to the historical truth that we are going to see for many years.The MECHANICS of the BookDobbs has decided to write the book in a chronological sequence during the 13 day sequence of what is now called the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is a chilling minute by minute account. This is neither a memoir, nor what would be termed a scholarly study. Dobbs has attempted to humanize the story, and show the people involved on both sides. It is perhaps true that the human side of this story has never been told, and certainly not to the extent you are witnessing here.As the 13 days progresses, more and more space is devoted to the events of each day. Thus only a chapter is devoted to the first day of the crisis. A great deal of space is devoted to October 27, 1962, which is now known as Black Saturday in the Kennedy White House. During that day, Fidel Castro sent a telegram to Nikita Khrushchev enthusiastically pushing the Russian Premier to unleash the Soviet arsenal against America.By the end of that day, JFK and the Russian Premier would come to terms in a deal that would give up American missiles in Turkey for the dismantling of the Soviet missiles in Cuba. What happened during the 13 days is absolutely spellbinding, and is perhaps the most important event to happen in human history. War with the USSR would have meant the nuclear destruction of all mankind. Those that did not perish immediately would have died along with most of civilization from the resultant fallout which would have lasted for years. The question we should all ask ourselves is what were they thinking?Here are just a few of the things you will learn from this incredibly well written and vital book:* Unbeknownst to the United States the Soviet Union had brought tactical nuclear weapons to Cuba. They were prepared to use them against an American invasion force. This means that one weapon could easily wipe out 15,000 to 30,000 American soldiers. At least one such weapon was within 15 miles of America's Guantanamo Bay naval base,and positioned for use.* Certain Russian submarines were equipped with nuclear tipped torpedoes. One torpedo could wipe out an American aircraft carrier or even most of the fleet accompanying a carrier. One such Russian sub was forced to surface due to American depth charges. The Russian captain could have used his weapons and unleashed a nuclear exchange.* Dobbs is probably the first writer to actually inspect the hundreds of cans of raw photographic footage that has been declassified. Some of this footage is in conflict with the memories of some of the participants of the crisis and Dobbs goes through the discrepancies.* It is now deemed to be archaic to believe that there was no direct communications link between the White House and the Soviet Union. At times it took as long as 18 hours for JFK to dictate a communication and for it to be delivered to Khrushchev and translated into Russian.* Diplomats in the Russian Embassy in Washington had to send a telegram by calling for a bicycle messenger when communicating with Moscow.* Our naval ships in the waters off Cuba sometimes required hours to decipher orders from Washington.What pours through this book is the overriding notion that at any time small events had the capability of ballooning up into a major crisis that by itself would trigger a total nuclear exchange. The Joint Chiefs were constantly edging towards invasion and war. JFK was successful in holding them back but knew that at some point, he might lose control over the situation, and events. The same was true for Khrushchev.The Cuban Missile Crisis has been war gamed hundreds of times, and more often than not the result has been WAR. In the early 1990's a series of joint conferences were held with participants from Russia, Cuba, and America attending to find out what they could about the crisis.During an early conference it became public that there were scores of Russian missiles already active in Cuba that the US did not know about. They were under local control of the Soviet army technical missile crews. This means that if the US had invaded Cuba it is understood that these crews would have launched their missiles at America causing a full retaliatory response by the US against Russia's homeland. The unthinkable would have become reality.CONCLUSION:If you have a love for history that is extraordinary in a book that is about as interesting as anything you will ever read than pick up a copy of One Minute to Midnight, and be prepared to be mesmerized. Just start on it early in the day because you might not want to go to sleep that night. Thank you for reading this review.Richard C. StoyeckMy Own THOUGHT:I would like to leave you with this thought that has troubled me for years. I have discussed it with history professors at Harvard who are fully conversant with the crisis. None have ever given me anything but stares, so perhaps you can give it a try.Why when JFK first became alert to the installation of the weapons did he NOT CONFRONT Khrushchev privately and demand the removal or else war? By confronting the Premier publicly he boxed Khrushchev into a corner which humiliated the Russian leader and could have easily led to war. Our weapons throughout this period were overwhelming. It simply makes no sense given the historical circumstances. Have a great read.

The old saying "you'll never believe how close we REALLY came!" might seem like a tired old cliche, but after re-reading "One Minute to Midnight," it's kind of a miracle I'm not scrawling this review in the dirt while gnawing on a dead rat. Michael Dobbs presents the Cuban Missile Crisis as a series of communications failures and poor decisions, compounded by the fact that almost everyone involved is either incredibly naive, dangerously hotheaded, or has a childishly simplistic idea of a "winnable" nuclear war. Thankfully, two of the three leaders named in the subtitle didn't exactly relish the idea of nuclear annihilation.While "One Midnight to Midnight" is undeniably a compelling read, and for the most part, it's quite well written, it's not quite the edge-of-your-seat thriller I remembered it being when I devoured it back in 2008. Much of what was new and groundbreaking upon publication, such as the U-2 flight which drifted over the Soviet Union, the Soviet submarine which was minutes from firing a nuclear torpedo at American warships, and the fact that the Russians had dozens of tactical and battlefield nuclear weapons on the island, have all become common knowledge over the last 15 years. I suppose if you've never read any books on the crisis, or at least not any recent ones, some of the "new" revelations might be shocking. The rest of us will just nod our heads and say "yup, things really DID get that bad!"Familiarity aside, I still strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for a recounting of the crisis that focuses mainly on the political and military side of things, which presents all of the main characters as flawed without demonizing any of them. I'd recommend buying a physical copy instead of the Kindle edition. The photo reproduction in the Kindle isn't that great, and there are gaps, sometimes several lines long, between each paragraph, something I don't remember in the original hardcover.

This is a systematic account of the Cuban missile crisis from the American, Soviet and Cuban points of view. It is hard for those of us born after this time (the 50th anniversary of which is almost upon us) to understand how close the world came to nuclear destruction, especially on so called Black Saturday, 27 October 1962. Leading figures seriously wondered whether they would live to see another dawn. What emerges clearly, despite their faults and weaknesses, is the essential humanity and statesmanship of both Jack Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchov. Both had seen warfare at first hand and were ultimately determined that they would not destroy future generations by allowing nuclear weapons to be used first by their respective countries and thereby condemn the rest of the world as well as their opponents. Kennedy was held back by the belligerence of many of the top military echelon, especially Curtis LeMay and Thomas Power, who openly advocated as a matter of general policy a nuclear first strike against the Soviet Union; while Khrushchov was held back by the adventurism and rashness of Castro, who saw no reason why nuclear holocaust should not be risked if it meant destruction of American imperialism and who advocated a nuclear first strike by the Soviets to achieve this. Both Kennedy and Khrushchov were held back more generally by the mad logic of nuclear deterrence and international diplomacy which permitted no admission of weakness or public backing down. On Black Saturday, a US plane accidentally entered Soviet airspace without Kennedy's knowledge, while a US reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba without Khrushchov's knowledge, either of which incidents could have triggered off nuclear armageddon.Some of the statistics of the weapons of mass destruction here are astonishingly sobering and horrible - just one Soviet ship (the Aleksandrovsk) heading for Cuba had on it nuclear weapons with the destructive capacity of some 1700 Hiroshima bombs - over three times the total amount of explosive ever detonated in all the wars in human history put together. This book combines horrific details like this together with the personal stories of low level participants on all three sides, in a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute account that truly brings across the horror of those days when we came closer than ever before or since to the End of the World. 5/5

Although more than 50 years have passed since the Cuban Missile Crisis, even now it is hard to read an account of it without feeling a sense of dread for what might have happened, and a sense of relief that it didn't. There have been many books written previously about the events of October 1962, but in this superb account, Michael Dobbs casts new light on certain aspects of the crisis (for example, the accidental flight of a U2 plane over Eastern Siberia), as well as de-bunking several myths which have developed over the years. In addition to being well-researched, 'One Minute to Midnight' is written in a clear and exciting style. I would suggest this is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of the twentieth century, let alone the Cold War.

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 above its counterparts.Well researched and very cleverly written, this book takes the reader behind the scenes of this dramatic and tense stand-off between the two superpowers of their day, capturing not only the pressure felt by the leaders in office, but also the confusion and unrest the soldiers were facing on the ground, sea and air. Also appealing is the way the author has documented all viewpoints of the crises, rather than just concentrating on the American perspective, he has detailed the thought process, decisions and even mistakes being made by Premier Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, which does add another dimension to the story and helps increase the intensity of the unfolding drama.Written more like a fast paced novel, rather than an historical text book, the author has managed to relay the intensity of the crises in an easy to read format while still ensuring the text is full of facts and accounts that add depth and much needed detail to the subject matter. The only slight gripe I have is the author does like to "blow his own trumpet" by adding in-depth notes at the end of the book highlighting his skill at being able to dig up information that other researchers have missed, and being able to piece together various differing accounts of a similar instance to create historical fact. The other slight issue, (if ignoring the grammatical errors), was that the photographs and maps provided at varying points in the book were difficult to see and interpret on the Kindle - whether this is because the original image quality was poor, or because the Kindle is designed for text rather than small scale maps - I don't know, but it didn't really didn't detract or affect the overall quality of the book.In all, if you are looking for a detailed and fascinating account of the Cuban Missile Crises from the viewpoint of all involved, or if you are just after a thoroughly well written non-fiction book, you certainly couldn't go wrong choosing "One Minute To Midnight".

This is a well referenced and well paced story of the Cuban missile crisis. I haven't checked the references, but if all is true then it shows just how precarious international affairs are and the risk that some random action could trigger war. Communications are better today, but I'm sure the personality issues remain just as critical. Read and worry!

This account is very well researched ,judging by the numerous references and acknowledgements which take up nearly 20% of the length of the book.But for all that its fast paced and very readable ,and in my view captures the drama and the incredible dilemma that two sane leaders and their respective teams had to steer through madness and the minefield of the cold war politics of the time