Gambling with Armageddon

Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis

By: Martin J. Sherwin

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War—how such a crisis arose, and why at the very last possible moment it didn't happen.

In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Mining new sources and materials, and going far beyond the scope of earlier works on this critical face-off between the United States and the Soviet Union—triggered when Khrushchev began installing missiles in Cuba at Castro's behest—Sherwin shows how this volatile event was an integral part of the wider Cold War and was a consequence of nuclear arms.

Gambling with Armageddon looks in particular at the original debate in the Truman Administration about using the Atomic Bomb; the way in which President Eisenhower relied on the threat of massive retaliation to project U.S. power in the early Cold War era; and how President Kennedy, though unprepared to deal with the Bay of Pigs debacle, came of age during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here too is a clarifying picture of what was going on in Khrushchev's Soviet Union.

Martin Sherwin has spent his career in the study of nuclear weapons and how they have shaped our world. Gambling with Armegeddon is an outstanding capstone to his work thus far.

The folly of humankind is greater than nuclear weapons

Amazing story in revealing the hubris, folly, courage and cowardice of those who hold the power of the sun and human life as we know it in, what they believe to be, their hands. If you don't believe there is God who attends to humanity and can intervene to prevent our worst tendencies, at least until some time appointed in tne future, I have no concept of why.

Consider this your lucky day.

A genuinely fascinating account of the Cuban Missile Crisis that skillfully shows how nuclear war was avoided only as a matter of luck.
What is most frightening is the degree to which much of Kennedy’s staff and all of the military thought attacking Cuba was the only response to the missiles. When UN Ambassador Stevenson first suggested diplomacy rather than military engagement he was viewed as completely unrealistic and yet that was the only response which saved us from annihilation.

A thorough telling

I found this to be a thorough telling of the Cubam Missile Crisis, told in the context of the first 17 years of nuclear decisions and the consequences of them. The Kruschev side, the close calls at sea, and seeing the mercurial nature of everyone's viewpoints throughout the Crisis are all fantastic.

Very well-written in great detail

Everyone has heard a lot about the Cuban missile crisis, most already have a good idea of where the story goes. With this in mind, this book is not exceptionally groundbreaking. However, it teals the story with clarity and a level of detail that takes those interested in the history of the events into a deeper level of understanding. I found the narrative compelling and easy to follow. Although I already knew the general facts abou the crisis, I enjoemued the details and the clarity.

Important History

The story is well told and heavily documented. The writing and performance generate considerable stress in the hearer which was likely at much higher levels in the historic characters.

I was shocked at the cavalier approach to nuclear war manifested by both military and civilian leadership. Politically I'm too the right of Atila the Hun but I have to give credit to JFK to keeping us out of war.