Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth-Fast Shipping

Description

In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called Berlin “the mostdangerous place on earth.” He knew what he was talking about.

Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later,but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the ColdWar-and more perilous. It was in that hot summer that the Berlin Wallwas constructed, which would divide the world for another twenty-eightyears. Then two months later, and for the first time in history,American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed against eachother, only yards apart. One mistake, one nervous soldier, oneoverzealous commander-and the tripwire would be sprung for a war thatcould go nuclear in a heartbeat.

On one side was a young, untested U.S. president still reeling fromthe Bay of Pigs disaster and a humiliating summit meeting that left himgrasping for ways to respond. It would add up to be one of the worstfirst-year foreign policy performances of any modern president. On theother side, a Soviet premier hemmed in by the Chinese, East Germans,and hardliners in his own government. With an all-important PartyCongress approaching, he knew Berlin meant the difference not only forthe Kremlin’s hold on its empire-but for his own hold on the Kremlin.

Neither man really understood the other, both tried cynically tomanipulate events. And so, week by week, they crept closer to thebrink.

Based on a wealth of new documents and interviews, filled withfresh-sometimes startling-insights, written with immediacy and drama,Berlin 1961 is an extraordinary look at key events of thetwentieth century, with powerful applications to these early years ofthe twenty-first.

Includes photographs