One minute to midnight
by Michael Dobbs (historian), Michael Dobbs · first published 1998
100% recommend
In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear conflict over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. In this hour-by-hour chronicle of those tense days, veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs reveals just how close we came to Armageddon.Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev's plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo; the handling of Soviet nuclear warheads on Cuba; and the extraordinary story of a U-2 spy plane that got lost over Russia at the peak of the crisis.Written like a thrill
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…"any plan that kills millions of Chinese when it isn't even their war is not a good plan. This is not the American way." Edit: For anyone interested in the Cuban Missile Crisis I can strongly recommend "One Minute To Midnight" by Michael Dobbs - it is full of episodes like this (some even more alarming).
on “The Okinawa missiles of October 1962” ↗I can strongly recommend "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War" by Michael Dobbs: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2606779-one-minute-to-mi... For extra nightmare fuel "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions…
on “If you want peace, study war” ↗I can strongly recommend One Minute to Midnight for a minute by minute account of the Cuban missile crisis - it is incredibly tense even though we know it worked out OK! http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Midnight-Kennedy-Khrushchev...
on “Mapping the US nuclear war plan for 1956” ↗If you want to be scared silly I can recommend "One Minute to Midnight" by Michael Dobbs - it goes through the Cuban Missile crisis minute by minute with a lot of detail. The number of things that went wrong that almost led to war are remarkable - e.g. who would have thought…
on “Why Hasn’t the World Been Destroyed in a Nuclear War Yet?” ↗Another good one to illustrate the fragility of the world we live in: One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs. To me it was eye-opening to read about all the close shaves which could easily have ended in catastrophic misinterpretation…
on “A Burning B-52 Nearly Caused A Nuclear Catastrophe” ↗Also "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War" - which is pretty alarming even when we know how it all worked out: http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Midnight-Kennedy-Khrushchev...
on “Almost Everything in “Dr. Strangelove” Was Based on Fact” ↗…Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon by Neil Sheehan (Biography and background to the development of the ICBM) The American War in Afghanistan: A History by Carter Malkasian One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs (about the Cuban missile crisis) Chip War by Chris Miller (about the semiconductor industry and it's place in geopolitical competition)
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗Have you read "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War" - I found that a lot more alarming than Command and Control (although I agree that Command and Control is an excellent book).
on “Almost Everything in "Dr. Strangelove" Was True” ↗There is an incredibly good minute-by-minute account of the Cuban crisis: "One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War" - it covers a lot of areas that aren't often mentioned such as the U2 flight at the North Pole going astray or the Soviet nuclear cruise missile…
on “On Being a Human Being in the Time of Collapse (2022) [pdf]” ↗The book "One Minute to Midnight" about the Cuban Missile Crisis has a rather long list of places during that confrontation that almost led to nuclear war. http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-Midnight-Kennedy-Khrushchev... One fascinating…
on “Happy Petrov day” ↗I was reading to "One Minute to Midnight" about the Cuban msisile crisis and the account of flying a U-2 was pretty scary - at high altitude they had a very narrow range of speeds at which they could fly, fly too fast and the wings come off,…
on “F-35's biggest problems: software and bad relationships” ↗Of course, they might not have expected to survive the blast - a lot of people (e.g. bomber crews) expected their trips to be one way. Also, from what I recall from One Minute to Midnight the conditions on that sub had been absolutely awful for quite a lot time (in particular, no cooling) so they might not have been thinking particularly rationally.
on “A Stark Nuclear Warning” ↗