April 2005. Thirteen Days. A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Robert F. Kennedy. This book can be read in a couple of evenings, but is a very powerful book. The latest edition has a foreward by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. that hooks you right away. Here's a link to a simple map of Cuba I put together for our discussion [MAP]. For additional reading, the John F. Kennedy library has a good online summary, and I'd also recommend "Thinking in Time. The Uses of History for Decision Makers" by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest May. This book has a good summary of both the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs. In fact, Prof. Neustadt co-authored the Afterword in "Thirteen Days...", and Prof. May is interviewed in the documentary pieces for the DVD "Thirteen Days."
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