Jeff Shaara shows once again his power to take a difficult topic (Civil War, WWII) and Cuban Missile Crisis and make it compelling reading. This is such an excellent book and provides so much historical context to a topic that I am sure I learned about in multiple levels of education, but never really focused on all the challenges and personalities involved to stop this from ending our world. Thank you to NetGalley and the published for providing me with an ARC of this amazing book.

Definitely a book I wanted to read as I’ve enjoyed the authors previous works and those of his father.

The inside look at the Cuban Missile Crisis was well researched and a compelling read. For any history fan, this narrative is a great addition to the background of the Kennedy Administration and the difficulties faced.

I never knew much about the Cuban Missile Crisis so this one caught my attention fast. It is very detailed and is not going to be for the average reader, but those of you who love details will enjoy this one. I will admit, that parts were a little long and tedious and I found myself drifting off, but I am not blaming the writer, I am blaming the subject matter....it's just hard to make a potential Soviet invasion fun.

I did learn things, especially about Bobby Kennedy, he is stronger than I ever knew. I just pictured him as a pretty guy who got a job because his brother was President. He actually is sharp!

Overall, if you were an adult during this time, you would relive some of the feelings you had during that time. I went back and forth with the text and audio version and the audio is the way I will recommend you read this novel. The narrator is very easy to understand and soothing.

"In Europe and America
There's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets

Mr. Khrushchev said, "We will bury you"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy
From Oppenheimer's deadly toy?
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too... "

Sting "Russians"

I went into this book knowing two things: 1. that I love Jeff Shaara's books/writing, and 2. that I knew *ALL* about the Cuban Missile Crisis. By the end, I again knew two things: 1. I still 100% love Mr. Shaara's writing, and 2. I knew close to *NOTHING* about the Cuban Missile Crisis [think 1%]. Unfortunately for me, that made some of this book difficult to understand as I had no frame of reference and wished I had read, at the very least, Robert F. Kennedy's book "Thirteen Days", if not other books from this time frame as well. There were definite moments where I felt completely out of my depth.

That said, this is still a stellar book, with detailed writing and impeccable research [I'd expect nothing less from this author], and I am left , amazed at 1. just how close we came to nuclear war with the [former] Soviet Union, 2. how diplomacy and a firm hand CAN work in one's favor when dealing with someone [even a world "leader"] who is acting like a petulant child, and 3. how thankful I am for the level heads that prevailed over the course of those thirteen days [given how fraught things eventually got and how much some really wanted war].

This read has really sparked an interest [for me] in this time period, and I will be reading RFK's book [a long with whatever else I can find] sooner rather than later.

Very well done: I highly recommend this book!

I received an audiobook ARC for this book and it was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, and he did an excellent job telling this story [I give him a billion stars for capturing the unique voices of both JFK and RFK so well]. I highly recommend this awesome audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jeff Shaara, Paul Michael - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Jeff Shaara takes place in the few days in which the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Mr. Shaara is a best-selling author, known for historical fiction books told through the views of individuals.

Like other Jeff Shaara books, this one also presents historical events from different points of view. And like his other books, this one is also well-researched.

One of the reasons I have enjoyed Jeff Shaara’s books for the last few decades is that he takes larger-than-life figures, and makes them relatable. He does the same in The Shadow of War, even though the book only looks at the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The book tells of the immense pressure faced by the new, young President and his brother/Attorney General – the only man he trusted. John F. Kennedy knew that Nikita Kruschev had danced diplomatic circles around him and was testing him. Bobby Kennedy has to manage his brother’s team and act as a gatekeeper.

The book does a great job of telling of the pressures felt by JFK. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a colossal failure, Communism was a huge perceived threat, his generals wanted war, and UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson pushed for appeasement.

Jeff Shaara does not forget the average American, told through the eyes of Joseph Russo who only knows what is reported. Mr. Russo represents the public sentiment, without the knowledge that leaders, and in this case the reader, had. This aspect of the book keeps us all grounded with real-life consequences, not just political humiliation.

The book is gripping, and surprisingly filled with tension. Even though we already know what happened, the idea of what “could have been” is terrifying. For me, the real charm is the lesser-known events that get lost in the big picture, but are no less important.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC copy of this book!

I love historical fiction, and I knew little to nothing about the Cuban Missile Crisis which is the focus of this book. Jeff Shasta’s writing makes you feel like you are right there alongside the characters, and I really enjoyed seeing both Russian and American perspectives of the war. I found this book to be fast paced and intense, leaving me curious to see what happens next. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and look forward to reading more by this author.

The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara is a well-researched novel and accurate account of the events comprising the Cuban Missile Crisis. More than that, it also supplies a version of the possible motivations, machinations, and strategies of superpowers, and the effects of those politics on the people governed by these superpowers.
It is fascinating reading, as Shaara personalizes JFK, RFK, Khrushchev, and even some of the lesser players and advisors. He provides the reader insight into the past history of WWII, Khrushchev’s tactics to eventually gain power after Stalin, and the bungling of the aborted Bay of Pigs invasion. Adlai Stevenson’s dramatic portrayal of Zorin lying to the UN is well-described.
Perhaps some of the most crucial insights are scenes depicting the effects of the drama of the Cuban Missile Crisis as portrayed, and hyped, by the media. As a high school student, I was one of the millions who lived through the Crisis, glued to the nightly news broadcasts and the multiple presidential addresses to the nation, watching history play out each night. To illustrate the effects of the broadcasts and media coverage, Shaara inserts scenes of the ordinary Russo family and neighbors as they experience civilian angst.
More than 60 years later, in retrospect, it is apparent that both Khrushchev and Kennedy were heroes who made the peaceful disengagement possible.
I found the author’s tendency to use sentence fragments and run-overs a bit distracting, but the overall dramatic delivery and compelling storyline overcame the distraction.
This is an excellent historical fiction account of the Cuban Missile Crises, and I recommend it to readers interested in this time of US history.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

🌟Jeff Shaara brings to life one of the most explosive events from the 1960s, the Cuban missile crisis. He tells the story mainly through three sets of eyes. The first is Robert F Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States and brother to the president. The second is the Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the communist party, better known as the leader of the Soviet Union. The third is Joseph Russo, an English professor at Florida State University and a Kennedy supporter in a state of Republicans.

🌟Mr. Shaara weaves the events of the Cuban missile crisis so well that you actually feel you are reading a nonfiction book.

🌟This read was unputdownable and very informative. I loved every minute of it. I've always been interested in this time period. This book just gave me more to read.

Perspective is everything—and this, told with research from Robert Kennedy’s point of view, is a terrifying account of a world on the brink of war. Detailing the Cuban Missile Crisis and a young Kennedy presidency reveals just how close the end came. Written in narrative form, you can close your eyes and see it all unfolding. Wonderfully done and terrifying to read.

Jeff Shaara has written a gripping book about those scary days we have come to know as the Cuban Missile Crisis. As a little kid when these events took place, Mr. Shaara uses his novelist creativity to bring historical truths alive. And as someone who used to trust the daily news reports in newspapers (remember them?) and nightly tv news I now have a much better understanding of how the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States came oh-so-close to nuclear annihilation.
Great read and thanks to NetGalley for the chance to again enjoy Jeff Shaara’s worth in “The Shadow of War.”

The Shadow of War
By Jeff Shaara

Mr. Shaara is a novelist and historian, who has written books about many of the periods in American history which have been moments of crisis. This is another such book. It is the story of the Cuban missile crisis.

In his prologue, the author tells us that this book is unique in that he had a first-hand view of the crisis as it happened. I was 14 years old in 1962. I too remember the fear which the Cuban situation inspired; I remember "duck and cover"; I remember fallout shelters.

Mr. Shaara tells the story here from multiple points of view. President Kennedy and his brother, Bobby, the Attorney General, are shown here as threading their way through two minefields: first the Russians who are intent on planting nuclear missiles in Cuba; and second the hawks in Congress and our military determined to bomb Cuba off the map. Nikita Khrushchev meanwhile must deal with his own hardliners and a fanatic Fidel Castro, while trying to diffuse the situation.

But Mr. Shaara goes further – sharing the story of the Russo family in Florida; the crew of a Russian submarine; a Russian spy turned conduit for the Attorney General to the Russian hierarchy; and other stories which highlight just how close we came to annihilation through nuclear war. It was truly a scary time. But thanks to cooler heads and brave men on both sides the worst was averted. As always, the author presents a clear and complete picture of a defining moment in our history.

Jeff Shaara, having written extensively about the Civil War and World War II, and occasionally about other American wars, has in his last two books taken a different route, with war being less central to his historical novels. In his last book, The Old Lion, he wrote about Teddy Roosevelt. In The Shadow of War, he writes about a different kind of war, the Cold War.

Sure, there is plenty of combat in The Old Lion when Roosevelt is in Cuba. And in this book, there is more action in Cuba at the start as we witness the Bay of Pigs invasion. But The Shadow of War is about how we averted what could have been the worst war of all, an all out nuclear war, as the Soviet Union sought to place missiles in Cuba.

I hesitate to call Shaara's work historical fiction -- there is very little fiction in them. Rather, he strives to get into the heads of real life historical figures to imagine how they might have been thinking during the very real events they participated in. In this case, we get the perspective of Bobby Kennedy, and through him his brother the president, JFK, along with Nikita Khrushchev, the Russian leader.

There is the more conventionally historical fiction of an ordinary citizen in Florida during the crisis, but the portrayal of RFK, JFK, and Khrushchev seems far more historical than fictional. Indeed, getting a personal perspective on how each of these men thought was the best part of the book for me -- especially Khrushchev, who is not just Boris Badinov but a complex character.

I don't remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in itself -- I was six years old, my first indelible political memory coming a year or so later when JFK was assassinated. But I remember air raid drills, bomb shelters, the Berlin Wall, the whole Cold War thing from the 1960s. And not to overlook other political footballs that JFK had to juggle, like the Civil Rights movement. Great stuff as usual from Shaara.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for this honest review. Honestly, as I already said, great stuff as usual from Jeff Shaara.

This is an author whose historical works I’ve enjoyed in the past, so when the opportunity to read about an event I don’t know much about came along via net galley - I couldn’t resist.
As with previous works, I appreciated the dedicated research that went into presenting the material in a thoughtful manner from both sides of the equation. The glimpses into the heads of crucial figures shed light into just how close we came to the brink of extinction.
The author makes difficult subject matter approachable and relatable by also including the thoughts and feelings of everyday people in addition to world leaders.
Books like this - where I can learn as well as enjoy a good story make me realize how much I miss reading historical fiction when I have been away from it for a while.

In “The Shadow of War,” Jeff Shaara gives us an intimate look at the political environment and negotiations that were going on in Washington, D.C., Moscow, and Havana during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I’ve been diving into books set in and around the Cold War and it is amazing how close we actually were to war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I enjoyed the fact that Shaara touched on the other issues that Kennedy was dealing with such and the Civil Rights movements and the Berlin Wall, which really helped me lock into the time period and pull all the pieces from other books together. This book is historical fiction, but reads more like non fiction, but with more Intimate knowledge, which I found fascinating. Overall, a great compliment to the other books I’m reading or have read on the Cold War.

Another well-done Shaara novel on a moment in history. The characters seem real, and the story makes you feel as if you were there to witness the events. I could not put this one down. A must read!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Informative and well researched. I enjoyed hearing more about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I found the different points of view to be an interesting way to get different angles of history. Born in the 1980s, I was not alive during this time period, but nonetheless, it was not yet covered in my history classes. Having read Fallout by Steve Sheinkin, I did not go into the book completely ignorant. However, my understanding on the topic was greatly enhanced by this title.
I will continue to read Jeff Shaara's books. My boys are huge fans of his father's original title on Gettysburg and the son's continuation of the series. However, I have one qualm with the writing that I did not previously have. That is the current trend to capitalize Black and not White. Both, not one or the other folks. In my opinion this is an agenda that I would not allow as a writer from my publicist.

Thank you goes to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara is an in-depth fact-based historical fiction about the heart-stopping moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Opening with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion as President John F Kennedy deals with its fallout. From Washington to Moscow to Havana, readers are taken along the tension-filled rooms and offices as destroyers circle Cuba as Soviet subs lurk beneath the surface and U-2 spy planes running recon from the sky and CIA operatives on the shores of Cuba. The question becomes who will make the first move, a wrong move and set off a war. We may know how the events played out but do we know the behind the scenes actions leading to those thirteen days in October 1962? How close was war?
Jeff Shaara has been the name in fact based historical fiction for decades with his trademark "you are there" immediacy. His story definitely puts the readers in the middle of the historical events with realistic details. The Shadow of War holds to this standard as the opening chapter puts the reader right smack into the middle of the Bay of Pigs and does not let up as the pieces move quickly in this real life game of chess and cat mouse with fingers itching near the trigger. Even though I knew the outcomes of these events, Mr. Shaara has a way to write the events as if we are experiencing the tensions firsthand. If you enjoy historical fiction with political intrigue, I highly recommend The Shadow of War.

The Shadow of War is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

What an exciting, fascinating book. Even though based on a well-known historical event author Jeff Shaara brings it to life and tells a story not just of heroes and villains but of people on the ground participating as well as everyday citizens afraid but not quite sure what they should be afraid of and how afraid they should be.

Shaara has a knack for using historical fiction to make larger-than-life figures relatable and recognizable, to put them in challenging situations and show human, real-life thoughts and reactions. For example, both John and Bobby are mostly remembered as brave men from a famous family, assassinated, cut down in their prime, martyrs. But Shaara zeroes in on this particular political situation - the Cuban Missile Crisis – and portrays a tense few days where they are confronted with a situation they inherited, trying to find a path through the literal minefield of missiles being installed by the Soviet Union in Cuba, missiles quite in range of the coast of the United States. The bravery is still there, but so is the other side: assumptions and prejudices, unwarranted criticism, off-the-cuff inappropriate remarks, anger breaking through. This makes for a very believable story.

From the highest-level heads of government – in the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba – to support staff and the military to the men in Cuba installing the missiles to regular people living in Florida wondering just what is going on, Shaara describes reaction, overreaction, fear, bluster; a wide range of emotions and opinions on what the solution should be.

The Shadow of War is fast-moving and suspenseful, taking us through the days before an agreement was reached. Taking us into the bomb shelters and the duck and cover drills. Taking us into the living rooms of those responsible for making a move that could result in nuclear war. It was thoroughly enjoyable first page to last. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of The Shadow of War via NetGalley. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc of this book.

Historical Fiction is my jam, but I truthfully have never read a historical fiction book about the Cuban Missile Crisis, the only things that I remember is what I learned in school 45 years ago (no I'm not that old, but still you get the point).

I really loved learning about something that I truthfully remember nothing about, this was very well-researched, and very informative from my perspective. I highly would recommend this book if you're into historical fiction, or even history non-fiction novels.

I was 6 when the nuclear showdown known as the Cuban missile crisis took place in 1962. The only thing I remember was practicing getting under our school desks and covering our heads in the case the Soviet Union dropped a nuclear bomb on the American. Did I understand what all this meant? Nope.

As I’ve gotten older, I find myself interested in events from my younger years. Jeff Shaara’s newest historical fiction book, The Shadow of War, was the perfect book for me to have a better understanding of this near tragic event. It is told from the perspective of several different players, both American and Soviet.

I enjoy historical fiction because I’m more apt to stick with it. This is a well researched book told in a very readable fashion. I learned a lot!