I read everything I can about the Cuban missile crisis (1962). This book has lots of detail culled from secret tapes JFK made of the ExComm discussions, plus notes made by various participants in those and other meetings. The detail is fascinating, and reinforces just how close the world came to total destruction. However, Sherwin is not a neutral or disinterested writer--he uses his facts selectively to demonize Eisenhower and later, the Joint Chiefs, and to deify Stevenson--neither of whom deserved that treatment. Still, the more facts and analysis that emerge from formerly secret sources, the better the understanding of this fearful event.
(N.B.: I was riding a subway home from work in NYC during the middle of the crisis. The train stopped at a station and the doors opened just as a bunch of emergency vehicle sirens were going off outside. No one ever makes eye contact on NYC subways, but this time everyone looked up from their newspapers and gave each other terrified looks.)
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
