One Hell of a Gamble: Secret History of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Aleksandr Fursenko
When did Castro embrace the Soviet Union? What proposals were put before the Kremlin through Kennedy's back-channel diplomacy? Just how close was nuclear war? Based on research into American documents and access to Soviet archives, this work offers a glimpse of the plans, mistakes and fears of the leaders who brought the world so close to devastation in the worst crisis of the Cold War.