Description
The Shadow of War, by Jeff Shaara, 2024
In 1961, the new president, John F. Kennedy, inherited an ill-conceived, poorly executed invasion of Cuba that failed miserably and set in motion the events that put the US and the Soviet Union on a collision course that nearly started a war that would have enveloped much of the world.
The Shadow of War brings to life the many threads that lead to the building crisis between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1962.
Told from a multitude of perspectives and voices, from the Russian engineer attempting the near impossible task of building the missile launch facilities in Cuba, to the US Navy commanders whose ships are sent to “quarantine” Cuba, to the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, desperately trying to maintain a challenging balancing act between conflicting demands of various powerful forces, to the brothers Kennedy (JFK and Bobby) who can’t allow Russia to land nuclear missiles in Cuba, or to appear weak in confronting Khrushchev, but keenly understand how close they are dancing to the edge of war.