The author takes you through the turmoil that JFK was dealing with during the thirteen days we now call the Cuban missile crisis. You are shown by documents and recordings just how stressful everything was for the President. He was not only dealing with Cuba but he also had other worries going on as well. This was after the Bay of Pigs which did not go as planned. He was having to deal with Vietnam at times, and just when he thought he had time for himself something else would come up.
Here you get a look into the U-2 spy program that for myself I had only heard about and by the time I was twelve able to see one of the old spy planes up close. Just to read the story of these two pilots, Chuck Maultsby who would get disorientated and flies into Russian air space which really causes a problem for Kennedy which just added to the many that he would come to have.
You then have Rudy Anderson a decorated fighter pilot who joined the program and flew many missions over Cuba but it would be his last one that he would be remembered for, or now not so much. He was shot down and the U-2 parts of it were put on display.
What you really get to see is how Kennedy not only had to negotiate with Khrushchev but his own Generals and staff, you see just how close we really came to possibly be in another war. This is a fantastic book and one everyone should read.

It was a pleasure to read a history of the Cuban Missile Crisis that was well researched and written conversationally. I appreciated the depth and lengths the authors went to in relating so many aspects of the story. I had a little trouble focusing on the exact timeline as the authors moved between scenarios quickly and sometimes I got confused. I think that Above and Beyond is a splendid glimpse into military, political and human decision making processes. I am happy to recommend it to anyone interested in learning/relearning the history as well as the human side of this important event.

The Cuban Missile Crisis is one of those stories that seems to get a little scarier every time it is retold. It never ceases to amaze me how fast or how high the stakes climbed- in what should have been a little rough and tumble poker hand.

Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias cover a lot of ground in this book, some of it familiar, and some of it new- at least to me.


=== The Good Stuff ===

* First and foremost, the book was a very enjoyable read. Once I started reading it, I didn’t want to put it down and ended up reading it on two sittings. The writing style is easy going and rewarding to read, and there are no two-page paragraphs common in “serious” history books. The book is a bit scary, highlighting just how fast a situation can escalate seemingly despite the wishes of those involved. Something to think about with events in North Korea.

* The book is a nice mix of different viewpoints of the crisis. Much of the book contains the inner-workings of the Kennedy Administration as it grapples with its first international test. Juxtaposed over this are the men at the tip of the lance- the military and reconnaissance pilots. A good portion of the book discusses the lives and missions of the U2 pilots who strapped a jet engine and a camera to their backs and went sightseeing over downtown Havana.

* I don’t know that there was any “new” material in this book. Mostly, it seemed a nicely done summary of other sources. The lack of new material is not at all surprising given the nature of the crisis and its 50+ year old age. Still, the authors did a very nice job of summarizing and bringing some lesser-known facts to the forefront.

* I found the book to be reasonably well referenced. Many of the sources cited are previously published material, but all look credible, at least to an amateur historian such as myself.


=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* The authors have a habit of jumping around between various subplots. It either makes for an interesting and multi-threaded reading experience, or you will hate it. Put me down for the latter.

* Sherman and Tougias leave some of the same loose ends that have bothered me every time I read about this incident. For example, surely Khrushchev knew, or at least suspected, the capabilities of the U2. Further, because of the efforts to down these aircraft, he knew of the U2 overflights of Cuba. How then was he so surprised that Kennedy discovered the missiles?


=== Summary ===

This is one of the most fascinating, and horrifying incidents in recent history, and the authors do an excellent job of covering the story and putting together and interesting and multi-viewpoint narrative. There were some areas I would have liked to see expanded, but I enjoyed reading the book and learned from it.

If you are at all a fan of military history, current affairs, or just the decision and risk-taking side of government, it is well worth a read.

A unique and superior history that looks at the Cuban Missile Crisis from two viewpoints. One is, of course, that of Kennedy. But we're shown Kennedy's life-shaping experience as a young commander of PT-109 to help us understand his understanding of war and violence and responsibility for the lives of men under him. The second is that of the pilots of the little known reconnaissance flights of the U-2, which first revealed the presence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba, and were the main 'eyes in the sky' throughout the crisis.

The tension of the crisis is carefully built into the narrative, and should be invaluable to those who are too young to have lived through it. For those of us old enough to remember it... we didn't really appreciate just how close we came to global thermonuclear annihilation. We didn't know about the top secret U-2 flight that accidentally wandered into Russian arctic territory at the height of the crisis. Or what nearly happened on the Soviet submarine that was forced to the surface by US Navy ships. Or about the U-2 that was actually shot down by a SAM over Cuba. For instance, I, for one, was recently a tourist in Havana (thank you, President Obama!), and saw some of the wreckage of that U-2 in the Museum of the Revolution, and thought, "Wow, we never heard about that!"

Excellent history writing. First-class use of primary sources and interviews. Thrilling and tense narrative--even if you think you know how the story ends.