Thirteen days

Robert F. Kennedy, who had died before the book appeared, wrote this firsthand account of the October 1962 standoff between Washington and Moscow over Soviet missiles placed in Cuba. Drawing on his own vantage point, he recounts the thirteen days when the two superpowers came closest to war.

The narrative centers on the people who made decisions under pressure. Kennedy gives particular weight to his brother, President John F. Kennedy, showing how the president weighed his options and what he believed was at stake. The author's own role as Attorney General, and his place among the advisers who met with the president, gives the account its close, inside perspective.

Kennedy also tracks the constant back-and-forth between American officials and Soviet representatives, which unfolded day by day and sometimes hour by hour. The result is a detailed look at diplomacy conducted at the edge of nuclear conflict, suited to readers interested in Cold War history and presidential decision-making.