
The Abyss
Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962
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Narrated by:
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Max Hastings
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John Hopkins
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By:
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Max Hastings
About this listen
Bestselling author Max Hastings offers a welcome re-evaluation of one of the most gripping and tense international events in modern history—the Cuban Missile Crisis—providing a people-focused narrative that explores the attitudes and conduct of Russians, Cubans, Americans, and a terrified world that followed each moment as it unfolded.
In The Abyss, Max Hastings turns his focus to one of the most terrifying events of the mid-twentieth century—the thirteen days in October 1962 when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. Hastings looks at the conflict with fresh eyes, focusing on the people at the heart of the crisis—America President John F. Kennedy, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, and a host of their advisors.
Combining in-depth research with Hasting’s well-honed insights, The Abyss is a human history that unfolds on a wide, colorful canvas. As the action moves back and forth from Moscow to Washington, DC, to Havana, Hastings seeks to explain, as much as to describe, the attitudes and conduct of the Soviets, Cubans, and Americans, and to recreate the tension and heightened fears of countless innocent bystanders whose lives hung in the balance. Reflecting on the outcome of these events, he reveals how the aftermath of this momentous crisis continues to reverberate today.
Powerful, and riveting, filled with compelling detail and told with narrative flair, The Abyss is history at its finest.
©2022 Max Hastings (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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Thanks to Dan Carlin of Hardcore History podcasts.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In October 1962, when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this unique account, he describes the hour-by-hour negotiations, with particular attention to the actions and views of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. In a foreword to this edition, the distinguished historian and Kennedy adviser Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., discusses the book's enduring importance and the significance of new information about the crisis that has come to light from the former Soviet Union.
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IF YOU LOVE HISTORY"""
- By Max & Lucy on 02-24-19
Brilliant.
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Max NEVER Disappoints!
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Must read.
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The excellent writing and use of language. Also its bi partisan approach and relevance to todays challenges
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Factual, modern retelling of this nightmare I lived through.
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Hastings does it again
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Brilliant analysis of the Cuban missile crisis.
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Great Read 👍
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Typical great prose and a good balance of application to todays events.
Solid storytelling of a grave time
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One of his best
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