Why read Awaiting Armageddon?

Book cover of Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis

Book description

For thirteen days in October 1962, America stood at the brink of nuclear war. Nikita Khrushchev's decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba and John F. Kennedy's defiant response introduced the possibility of unprecedented cataclysm. The immediate threat of destruction entered America's classrooms and its living rooms. Awaiting Armageddon provides…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Awaiting Armageddon as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sheldon M. Stern

Author

At the height of the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy met with the Pentagon’s head of civil defense, Steuart Pittman, to assess plans for protecting the American civilian population in the event of nuclear war. JFK mistakenly claimed that rural America could be better protected from radiation than urban America; Pittman, however, bluntly told the president that he was wrong: insisting that, “the only protection today is in the cities and there is little or no protection in the rural areas.” Kennedy became quite irritated, but unfortunately, his harsh reply was largely lost because the sound quality of the tape…

From Sheldon's list on The best books on the Cuban Missile Crisis since the opening of JFK's White House tape recordings.