You read all about it in the history books, the popular press and the papers so you think you know all about the story at least at a superficial level, thinking no more real shocks to come out. Then you settle down with a book like "Nuclear Folly" and then and only then does it dawn on you, how "stupidly comfortable you are in your thinking" - you were lapping it all up and sitting in a "history with the benefit of hindsight" syndrome. Facts drawn out long after the events push a new interpretation and open up "the things that could have been"! (see below, a "good read" rating underestimates the staggering impact of the Soviet perspective on events):
Most disturbing was the Epilogue that quite rightly pointed out what a dangerous time we are living in, remiss without some of the safeguards that existed in teh Cold War. I intend to follow up this with Max Hasting's Abyss. Need a strong coffee first.
Note: I was parallel streaming two very different books (one over Alexa in the kitchen and one from Audible in the car) hence such a sudden turn around in my reading speed ;)
If you want some depressing reading may I suggest the excellent Putin's People. The conclusion I came away with is how any sane Western politician could have thought they would be able to do a deal with him and his followers. It sadly reminds me of Von Papen and Hitler. We clearly have learned nothing from that experience.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the after next, as I am cheering myself up even more by reading (listening to) Max Hasting's Abyss on the same 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis! Just in case Nuclear Folly missed any happy bits ;)
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