The Cuban Missile Crisis: Origins, Course and Aftermath

Description

Draws on new sources to examine one of the most dramatic and dangerous episodes in world histor from a global perspectiveThe Cuban Missile Crisis was a six-day clash in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Both John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev were determined to avoid nuclear war, but events could easily have spiralled out of control with cataclysmic results. This book provides a lucid and up-to-date introduction to the Crisis, including American responsibility for causing it, and Cuba’s role as an important actor rather than a superpower pawn. Drawing on an extensive body of research, including material released only on the 50th anniversary of the crisis, this book places the event in a broader international and chronological context than ever before. It features a number of primary source documents, some of which have rarely − if ever − been reproduced, and includes a discussion of the legacies of the Crisis. Key FeaturesDraws on the latest books, articles and documents, including Soviet and Cuban materials, newly declassified documents only released after the 50th anniversary of the crisis and primary sources that have rarely, if ever, been reproduced beforeFeatures a rare exploration of the global dimensions of the Crisis, including the contributions from numerous countries in Latin America and EuropeDispels a number of commonly believed myths surrounding the crisis