
1983
Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink
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Narrated by:
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Ben Onwukwe
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By:
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Taylor Downing
A riveting, real-life thriller about 1983 - the year tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union nearly brought the world to the point of nuclear Armageddon
The year 1983 was an extremely dangerous one - more dangerous than 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the United States, President Reagan vastly increased defense spending, described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and launched the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative to shield the country from incoming missiles. Seeing all this, Yuri Andropov, the paranoid Soviet leader, became convinced that the US really meant to attack the Soviet Union and he put the KGB on high alert, looking for signs of an imminent nuclear attack.
When a Soviet plane shot down a Korean civilian jet, Reagan described it as "a crime against humanity." And Moscow grew increasingly concerned about America's language and behavior. Would they attack? The temperature rose fast. In November the West launched a wargame exercise, codenamed "Abel Archer," that looked to the Soviets like the real thing. With Andropov's finger inching ever closer to the nuclear button, the world was truly on the brink.
This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, intelligence failures, misunderstandings, and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of astonishing new documents, Taylor Downing tells for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to nuclear war in 1983.
©2018 Taylor Downing (P)2018 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"A gripping and frankly terrifying book on the US-Soviet nuclear confrontation" (Tom Holland, award-winning author of Rubicon and Dynasty)
Great book, but annoyingly bad voice impersonation
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Why does this guy think he can imitate and American accent? Why did the producer or engineer let him keep using his horrible American accent. How does this guy not know he got hired because he has a nice British accent?
This otherwise interesting book is a chore to listen to because of the narrator. It’s one of the worst I’ve heard.
One of the worst narrators ever
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1983 - Could be the most dangerous year
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Great look at an important period of the Cold War
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Interesting book... Distracting Narration
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Great story, poor narration choices.
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Worth any narration problems
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Close call in the cold war
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MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction
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The Near Catastrophe No One Knew About
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