Shortlisted for the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military HistoryAn enthralling account of a pivotal moment in modern history. . . replete with startling revelations about the deception and mutual suspicion that brought the US and Soviet Union to the brink of Armageddon in October 1962 Martin Chilton IndependentThe definitive new history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the author of Chernobyl History of a Tragedy winner of the Baillie Gifford PrizeFor more than four weeks in the autumn of 1962 the world teetered. The consequences of a misplaced step during the Cuban Missile Crisis could not have been more grave. Ash and cinder famine and fallout nuclear war between the two mostpowerful nations on Earth.In Nuclear Folly awardwinning historian Serhii Plokhy tells the riveting story of those weeks tracing the tortuous decisionmaking and calculated brinkmanship of John F. Kennedy Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro and of their advisors and commanders on the ground. More often than not Plokhy argues the Americans and Soviets simply misread each other operating under mutual distrust secondguesses and false information. Despite all of this nuclear disaster was avoided thanks to one very human reason fear.Drawing on an impressive array of primary sources including recently declassified KGB files Plokhy masterfully illustrates the drama of those tense days. Authoritative fastpaced and unforgettable this is the definitive new account of the Cold Wars most perilous moment.