If you haven't read Plokhy's book on Chernobyl， start there。 It's a great work and it's what brought me to this book。 However， this book is closely behind it。 The Cuban Missile Crisis gets a reputation as political jockeying in order to avoid nuclear war， but the book makes it much more than that。 It is a book about power politics， exploring the motivations of the Soviet Union and putting it squarely in context of the larger Cold War， specifically with the developments in central Europe。The grea If you haven't read Plokhy's book on Chernobyl， start there。 It's a great work and it's what brought me to this book。 However， this book is closely behind it。 The Cuban Missile Crisis gets a reputation as political jockeying in order to avoid nuclear war， but the book makes it much more than that。 It is a book about power politics， exploring the motivations of the Soviet Union and putting it squarely in context of the larger Cold War， specifically with the developments in central Europe。The greatest benefit this book brings is a narrative that combines both US and USSR points of view。 So many books focus on only the American view， that it removes all of the drama and discussion that went on in Russia。 （Granted， those sources are probably only becoming now available）。 However， this provides a really full， detailed account of the before， during， and after， of the events。 It's much more objective than a lot of other works。 Let's be honest: don't judge the Cuban Missile Crisis on Thirteen Days; it's a good read， but its bias should be clear。 Plokhy's bias as a historian of European history serves him well here。 There is not much American foreign policy history that only requires the American viewpoint， and he does a nice job trying to simultaneously look at both sides and how they reacted。 A word on readability， as well: Plokhy is a great writer。 This not dry analytical writing， it reads as narration to a gripping documentary。 It will keep your attention until you hit the endnotes （and if you're very interested， maybe even past that point） 。。。more