Above and Beyond
John F. Kennedy and America's Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission
-
- USD 18.99
-
- USD 18.99
Publisher Description
From the authors of the bestselling The Finest Hours comes the riveting, deeply human story of President John F. Kennedy and two U-2 pilots, Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby, who risked their lives to save America during the Cuban Missile Crisis
During the ominous two weeks of the Cold War's terrifying peak, two things saved humanity: the strategic wisdom of John F. Kennedy and the U-2 aerial spy program.
On October 27, 1962, Kennedy, strained from back pain, sleeplessness, and days of impossible tension, was briefed about a missing spy plane. Its pilot, Chuck Maultsby, was on a surveillance mission over the North Pole, but had become disoriented and steered his plane into Soviet airspace. If detected, its presence there could be considered an act of war.
As the president and his advisers wrestled with this information, more bad news came: another U-2 had gone missing, this one belonging to Rudy Anderson. His mission: to photograph missile sites over Cuba. For the president, any wrong move could turn the Cold War nuclear.
Above and Beyond is the intimate, gripping account of the lives of these three war heroes, brought together on a day that changed history.
Selected as a "Top 10 Nonfiction Books to Read" (2018) by the MA Book Awards
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sherman (coauthor of The Ice Bucket Challenge) and Tougias (A Storm Too Soon) team up again, after The Finest Hours and Boston Strong, to give an original, if uneven, account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, incorporating the experiences of two U.S. pilots alongside President Kennedy's. Using a novelistic approach that involves dramatically recreated scenes and interweaving story lines, the authors go back to the early lives and Korean War service of pilots Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby, while also covering Kennedy's WWII service and postwar political ascension. These different narrative strands connect during the 13 days of the crisis: Maultsby, on an Arctic mission, accidentally flies into Russian airspace, ratcheting up tensions with the Soviets, while Anderson flies one of the U-2 spy planes monitoring the missile sites in Cuba. The focus on two lesser-known figures gives the book an added dimension beyond other Cuban Missile Crisis histories, but the pilots' stories feel thin and underdeveloped. The book, however, hums when describing the strategic maneuvering in Washington. The authors will leave readers with a greater appreciation of the work required to combat the "miscalculations, incorrect interpretations, and breakdowns in command and control that could lead to war.")
