Martin Sherwin’s breakthrough examination of the Cuban Missile Crisis not only provides a gripping, sometimes hour-by-hour account of the crisis itself, but also investigates the origins, extent, and repercussions of nuclear weapons’ developing role in the post-World War II world. Sherwin shows how this volatile event was an integral part of the larger Cold War and was a result of nuclear arms by mining new sources and materials and going far beyond the scope of previous 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.

Gambling with Armageddon examines the original debate in the Truman Administration about using the Atomic Bomb; how President Eisenhower used the threat of massive retaliation to project US power in the early Cold War era; and how President Kennedy, despite being unprepared to deal with the Bay of Pigs disaster, came of age during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This, too, provides a clear picture of what was going on in Khrushchev’s Soviet Union.

Martin Sherwin has dedicated his life to researching nuclear weapons and how they have affected our globe. Gambling with Armageddon is an exceptional culmination of his previous work.