At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War - Tapa dura

"In the 1960s Tom Reed was one of Livermore's most creative designers of thermonuclear devices. During the years that followed, his career as a practicing physicist and as a public servant has been first class."--EDWARD TELLER, Father of the H-bomb "Tom Reed was one of our youngest Air Force Secretaries. He served with distinction in the most difficult of times. His book captures those years and those dangers beautifully." --GEN. RUSSELL DOUGHERTY, USAF (Ret.), Former Commander in Chief, Strategic Air Command "Mr. Reed was there as a key advisor when President Reagan settled on his plan for ending the Cold War. From the very beginning of their relationship, in 1965, Reagan has trusted and relied on Reed." --JUDGE WILLIAM P. CLARK, Former National Security Advisor to President Reagan "Tom Reed offers a unique inside account of President Reagan on the brink, as he maneuvered for a U.S. victory in the Cold War. It is a most valuable and readable assessment." --LOU CANNON, Author of "President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime" "[N]ot only provides a thorough history and analysis of the [Cold] War, but takes a jarring lessons-learned portrait of the successes and failures in military policy and strategy that prolonged and placated perhaps the most enduring international conflict of this generation . . . ." - "Sea Power" "[A] fascinating Cold War book." --William Safire "The book deserves quite high marks for how much it pulls together, as well as offering a viewpoint on the Cold War not nearly sufficiently well-represented in the public literature." "--Publishers Weekly" ""

At the Abyss is an insider's dramatic account of the dark decades of the Cold War, from its beginnings in the 1950s through to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It tells how calm and steady hands on both sides of the Atlantic walked back from the edge of nuclear warfare, revealing how perilously close the U.S and Soviet Union came to nuclear war, time and time again. October 1962 was a month of anxiety, tension and fear in both the United States and Russia, as the leaders of the world's two great powers Thomas C Reed was Secretary of the Air Force, a CIA insider and an advisor to President Regan, and had unprecedented access to the key people, places, and events during the Cold War years. With an introduction by former President George H. W. Bush Fascinating insight into U.S./Soviet relations in the last half of the 20th century