The Brink: Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

by David Detzer

Diaries, letters, and telephone logs of Washington officials, as well as much recently declassified material are incorporated into a compelling history of the events of October 1962 This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0690016824
• ISBN13: 9780690016826
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Crowell
• Length: 299 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Kennedy stands tough during the Cuban Missle Crisis.

Detzer does a good job of describing how the Cuban Missle Crisis arose in 1962. The key figures are Castro, John and Robert Kennedy, and Khruschev. Not only are the policies described but the mounting antagonism of the Cubans toward the United States. At just under 300 pages, Detzer throughly explains the crisis and how both Robert and John Kennedy gave the Soviets an out in this crisis. Policy makers in government should read this book in order to understand how other governments can react in an international crisis. If Kennedy had given no way out for the Soviets, we might have had a nuclear war. As it was, a blockade was imposed on Cuba and the Soviets were given a way out of the mess. Rather than bomb Soviet missiles in Cuba, Kennedy managed to have them removed through a similar deal on missiles in Turkey.Detzer also outlines why the Soviets wanted the missiles in Cuba, and why they thought the Americans would not react the way they did.Detzer sheds a lot of light on this crisis. In the current times, more people should reflect on the implications of policy toward other governments.