MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03145cam a2200349 a 4500
001 8680874
005 20110719230508.0
008 100805s2011 nyua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2010033163
020 $a9780399157295
020 $a0399157298
024 $a40019389117
035 $a(OCoLC)657270821
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn657270821
035 $a(NNC)8680874
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dIG#$dYDXCP$dUPZ$dBUR$dNSB$dGK8$dNSB$dZS3
043 $an-us---$ae-gw---$ae-ur---
050 00 $aE841$b.K34 2011
082 00 $a943/.1550875$222
100 1 $aKempe, Frederick.
245 10 $aBerlin 1961 :$bKennedy, Khrushchev, and the most dangerous place on earth /$cFrederick Kempe.
260 $aNew York :$bG.P. Putnam's Sons,$cc2011.
300 $axxv, 579 p., [32] p. of plates :$bill. ;$c24 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [553]-563) and index.
520 $aBased on a new documents and interviews, this work is a look at the Berlin Crisis of 1961, with powerful applications for the present. In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called it "the most dangerous place on earth." He knew what he was talking about. Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the Cold War, and more perilous. For the first time in history, American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed against each other, only yards apart. One mistake, one overzealous commander, and the trip wire would be sprung for a war that would go nuclear in a heartbeat. On one side was a young, untested U.S. president still reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster. On the other, a Soviet premier hemmed in by the Chinese, the East Germans, and hard liners in his own government. Neither really understood the other, both tried cynically to manipulate events. And so, week by week, the dangers grew.
505 0 $aPt. 1 : The players. Khrushchev : communist in a hurry ; Marta Hillers's story of rape ; Khrushchev : the Berlin crisis unfolds ; Kennedy : a president's education ; The "sniper" comes in from the cold ; Kennedy : a first mistake ; Ulbricht and Adenauer : unruly alliances ; The failed flight of Friedrich Brandt ; Ulbricht and Adenauer : the tail wags the bear -- Pt. 2 : The gathering storm. Springtime for Khrushchev ; Amateur hour ; Jörn Donner discovers the city ; Perilous diplomacy ; Vienna : Little Boy Blue meets Al Capone ; Vienna : the threat of war ; Angry summer ; Marlene Schmidt, the universe's most beautiful refugee -- Pt. 3 : The showdown. "The great testing place" ; Ulbricht and Kurt Wismach lock horns ; The Wall : setting the trap ; The Wall : desperate days ; Eberhard Bolle lands in prison ; A hero's homecoming ; Nuclear poker ; Showdown at Checkpoint Charlie -- Epilogue: Aftershocks.
600 10 $aKennedy, John F.$q(John Fitzgerald),$d1917-1963.
651 0 $aBerlin (Germany)$xPolitics and government$y1945-1990.
650 0 $aBerlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989.
651 0 $aUnited States$xForeign relations$zSoviet Union.
651 0 $aSoviet Union$xForeign relations$zUnited States.
852 0 $bglx$hE841$i.K34 2011