First published 2018
Michael J. Tougias examines the Cuban Missile Crisis through the experiences of three men whose decisions shaped history. The author focuses on President John F. Kennedy and U-2 pilots Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby during the crisis's most dangerous moments in October 1962. Tougias chronicles how Kennedy, exhausted and in physical pain, received alarming news about two missing spy planes on October 27. Chuck Maultsby had become lost during a surveillance mission over the North Pole and accidentally entered Soviet airspace. Meanwhile, Rudy Anderson's aircraft disappeared while photographing missile installations in Cuba. The author draws from the collaborative expertise behind The Finest Hours to present an intimate portrait of these three figures. Tougias argues that Kennedy's strategic thinking and the U-2 program prevented nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War's most perilous period. The book reveals how individual choices and chance events nearly triggered global war, offering readers insight into the human elements that determined whether the crisis would escalate or resolve peacefully.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, military-history, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chance-events, individual-choices, nuclear-catastrophe
Setting: Cuba, North Pole, Soviet Union
Period: 1962, Cold War
306 pages · Kindle Edition · PublicAffairs