A fresh and powerful contribution to the deeper understanding of the 1962 missile crisis, of Fidel Castro, and of the sustained political hostility between the United States and Fidelista Cuba. No one who cares about even one of these large matters will want to miss this book.

McGeorge Bundy, special assistant for national security to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

A tour de force. Blight, Welch, and Allyn elicited from Fidel Castro an extraordinarily revealing statement of his thoughts and actions during the Cuban missile crisis.

Robert A. Pastor, professor and director of the Center for North American Studies, American University

So vivid I almost felt as if I were there: in 1992, when Robert McNamara, Fidel Castro, and their colleagues met in Havana to discuss the missile crisis; and in 1962, when they, along with the Soviets, led the world up to, and back from, the brink of nuclear war. Fascinating and chilling-a grim but hopeful reminder for statesmen and citizens alike.

Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Secretary of State in the George H. W. Bush administration

This book shows the human dimension of the Cuban missile crisis as never before, especially in its vivid portrayal of the relationship between Fidel Castro and my father, Nikita Khrushchev. Cuba on the Brink captures the drama and danger of leaders, countries, and ideologies on a collision course with nuclear catastrophe. A marvelous book!

Sergei N. Khrushchev, Brown University; author of Khrushchev on Khrushchev: An Inside Account of the Man and His Era, by His Son, Sergei Khrushchev

A stunning insight into how the world looked from Havana when, for a moment of supreme crisis, Cuba was the hinge of the world. This is history by those who made it. Nothing so authentic on the subject has ever been done before; nothing like it will ever be possible again.

William D. Rogers, assistant secretary of state for Inter-American Affairs in the Ford administration