Customer Reviews

The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis (Stanford Nuclear Age Series)

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The Cuban missile crisis was the most dangerous moment of the Cold War and has received numerous analysis in other titles and articles. What makes Sheldon M. Stern's The Week The World Stood Still: Inside The Secret Cuban Missile Crisis different is its focus on a narrative written for students and general readers. The author's own transcriptions of the secretly recorded ExComm meetings serves as a foundation for an analysis which captures the striking moments of tension behind the scenes. The newest addition to the "Stanford Nuclear Age Series", The Week The World Stood Still is an impressive work of scholarship that is also highly recommended for non-specialist general readers with an interest in the history of the Cold War era.

Sheldon Stern takes us right into perhaps the most important decision-making in U.S. history. This account has been scrupulously put together from the primary sources, including the taped deliberations. Kennedy no longer emerges as a simplistic "cold warrior" but as a statesman whose value has even been enhanced by subsequent events. This is about as definitive account as we are likely to get, and is essentially reading for anyone who wants to be informed about those days of crisis.

Herbert S. Parmet

I think this book is a must for the understanding how the events evolved in those very difficult 13 days. The Author has made an excellent work in putting in a readable way hours of recordings that he himself heard over and over again. He did not fill any gaps but added the mood and the expresions of the word being said, and that greatly help to understand the situation. He also add parallel information of key events outside the recorded rooms and put all together in a very coherent form.
For us having suffered the chaos of the '60 as a collateral damage, knowing first hand what was happening in the Capital of the World is a revealing experience.
Also you can recognise the importance that the leadership had in both sides of the equation. The pressures, the uncertainty, the evident so called truth that a Leader has to overcome to find the right path in spite of them all is encouraging.
Hence I recommed this book to anyone who still want to know a great deal of the truth on the Cuban Crisis and learn first hand some excellent example of political leadership.

Sheldon Stern has presented a harrowing study of one of the most dangerous events in World History - The Cuban Missile Crisis. In his book, The Week the World Stood Still: Inside the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis, we are presented with an event whose story line reads like it was written by a Robert Ludlum-like mystery writer, this story, however, was frighteningly true history. With the careful, thoughtful, and thorough research that is Mr. Stern's trademark, the reader is presented with the complete inside story of that fateful week. This is a must read for, not only students, but adults as well. Kudos!

How JFK kept sane we will never know , obviously the JCS wanted to send us all into god knows where but you can bet they would have been safe in their hideaway . Seems to me , like Churchill had his mission in life , there at the right time , then so JFK was put in charge for his ability to change the thinking.

nice book. not only provides info regarding the crisis itself but regarding JFK personality. ENjoyed it quite a lot. Easy to read. Thanks

Sheldon M. Stern's aptly chosen title recalls that wonderful science fiction film of the 1950s, "The Day the Earth Stood Still." It is good to have that echo in mind as you look back upon the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Mid-century Hollywood reminds us of what the Cold War was like and Mr. Stern's book expresses what nearly happened. Aside from age and place of birth - I wish an aversion to war was a presidential requirement. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had it. He had been to war and in his heart he did not wish to start another.

This is a great book for History Students and we should all be students of our history. While it is a condensation it seems more like an explosive compression of "Averting the Final Failure" (2003), which I have reviewed earlier -- describing it as, "a chilling, provocative page turner." So is this book and there are fewer pages to turn; this would have gratified me in my student days. If you would like more information, thoughts and opinion please turn to my earlier review.

Sheldon M. Stern speaks of only the what-ifs that surrounded the President before and after the actual event of President John F. Kennedy. From within 5 minutes of President Kennedy learning of the USSR missile-ship coming towards Cuba to after the US ships escorted the USSR missile-ship to open sea I was on one line with President Kennedy, with Nikita Khrushchev on another line and Fidel Castro on another line- the 4-line phone set-up had been installed in my home by the US State Department 5 years before. The US got it's money worth that time. Sheldon M. Stern made much money repeating speculation and gossip of those who pretended to know.