One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Kennedy, and Castro, 1958-1964 »

Aleksandr Fursenko, one of Russia’s leading historians, is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Timothy Naftali, a frequent contributor to Slate and NPR, is director of the federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Based on classified Soviet archives, including the files of Nikita Khrushchev and the KGB, "One Hell of a Gamble" offers a riveting play-by-play history of the Cuban missile crisis from American and Soviet perspectives simultaneously.

Introduction

PART I: THE EMBRACE

1. "Where Does Castro Stand regarding Russia?"

2. Our Man in Havana

3. La Coubre

4. "Cuba Si, Yankee No!"

PART II: THE CLASH

5. Bay of Pigs

6. The Education of a President

7. Condor and Mongoose

8. Trouble in the Tropics

9. The Nuclear Decision

10. Anadyr

11. "Now We Can Swat Your Ass"

12. Ex Comm

13. Missile Crisis

14. Climax of the Cold War

15. Mikoyan's Mission

PART III: THE AFTERMATH

16. To the American University Speech

17. Dallas and Moscow

Notes

Bibliography

Index