Nuclear Folly

A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

By: Serhii Plokhy

Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright

Nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis.

Serhii Plokhy's Nuclear Folly offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground. In breathtaking detail, Plokhy vividly recounts the young JFK being played by the canny Khrushchev; the hotheaded Castro willing to defy the USSR and threatening to align himself with China; the Soviet troops on the ground, desperately trying to conceal nuclear installations on Cuba; and the hair-raising near misses at sea that nearly caused a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine to fire its weapons.

More often than not, the Americans and Soviets misread each other, operated under false information, and came perilously close to nuclear catastrophe. Despite these errors, nuclear war was ultimately avoided for one central reason: fear, and the realization that any escalation on either the Soviets' or the Americans' part would lead to mutual destruction.

©2021 Serhii Plokhy (P)2021 Kalorama

Putting the reader in the story

I appreciated the authors ability to walk the reader through the missile crisis from both sides. I have a great understanding of this events impact on arms control efforts and also appreciated the voice performance.

Terrific book

Scary time that could have been much worse. Great story telling. Kennedy did not heed the advice of his generals to the benefit of the world.

Incredible Narrative

Enjoyed hearing the Russian perspective on several of the lesser known details of the crisis. Supplemental and worth the time for education on where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

Very interesting

Perfect book to understand the tension during the Cold War, also very engaging and interesting to listen to.

A Must Read

If you are interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis or how mistakes can happen at the highest levels of governments, this is a must read.
The author references a multitude of primary sources and tells a story of the crisis that I believe is true but never imagined. I have read articles about the crisis and even transcripts of Kennedy's secret White House recordings but after reading this book I realize that they are all incomplete and give one side only.
I firmly believe that this can happen again if we elect the wrong people into office. After reading the book I think you will feel the same way.