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A Different Russia
Khrushchev and Kennedy on a Collision Course
by Marvin Kalb

Overview


In the early 1960's, the darkest, most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kalb brought the curiosity and excitement of a young American journalist to Moscow, where he kept a record of his daily CBS broadcasts on the building confrontation between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American President John F. Kennedy. Kalb had taught Russian history at Harvard University, spoke the language and traveled from one end of the communist world to the other, meeting ordinary Russians but also those, like Khrushchev, who chose to confront Kennedy at such risky places as the Bay of Pigs, the Vienna summit, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis, when the threat of nuclear war hovered over the world. This unusual memoir, very personal but also professional, intimately recaptures this fascinating moment in Russian-American relations. Eye-catching is the surprising comparison it evokes with the modern, perilous Putin era, when a Kremlin leader regularly turns his back on the West rather than, like Khrushchev, leader of a "different Russia," pursues his aims, yet open to compromise and hope for better times.
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Description


In the early 1960's, the darkest, most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kalb brought the curiosity and excitement of a young American journalist to Moscow, where he kept a record of his daily CBS broadcasts on the building confrontation between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American President John F. Kennedy. Kalb had taught Russian history at Harvard University, spoke the language and traveled from one end of the communist world to the other, meeting ordinary Russians but also those, like Khrushchev, who chose to confront Kennedy at such risky places as the Bay of Pigs, the Vienna summit, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis, when the threat of nuclear war hovered over the world. This unusual memoir, very personal but also professional, intimately recaptures this fascinating moment in Russian-American relations. Eye-catching is the surprising comparison it evokes with the modern, perilous Putin era, when a Kremlin leader regularly turns his back on the West rather than, like Khrushchev, leader of a "different Russia," pursues his aims, yet open to compromise and hope for better times.
Read more

About the author


For more than 70 years, MARVIN KALB has been a journalist, teacher and writer. An award-winning author of 17 books, Kalb is the Murrow Professor emeritus at Harvard, founding Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, former CBS and NBC Diplomatic Correspondent and Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Brookings Institution.
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Book details

Genre:HISTORY

Subgenre:Russia & the Former Soviet Union

Language:English

Pages:532

Paperback ISBN:9798989118366


Overview


In the early 1960's, the darkest, most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kalb brought the curiosity and excitement of a young American journalist to Moscow, where he kept a record of his daily CBS broadcasts on the building confrontation between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American President John F. Kennedy. Kalb had taught Russian history at Harvard University, spoke the language and traveled from one end of the communist world to the other, meeting ordinary Russians but also those, like Khrushchev, who chose to confront Kennedy at such risky places as the Bay of Pigs, the Vienna summit, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis, when the threat of nuclear war hovered over the world. This unusual memoir, very personal but also professional, intimately recaptures this fascinating moment in Russian-American relations. Eye-catching is the surprising comparison it evokes with the modern, perilous Putin era, when a Kremlin leader regularly turns his back on the West rather than, like Khrushchev, leader of a "different Russia," pursues his aims, yet open to compromise and hope for better times.

Read more

Description


In the early 1960's, the darkest, most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kalb brought the curiosity and excitement of a young American journalist to Moscow, where he kept a record of his daily CBS broadcasts on the building confrontation between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American President John F. Kennedy. Kalb had taught Russian history at Harvard University, spoke the language and traveled from one end of the communist world to the other, meeting ordinary Russians but also those, like Khrushchev, who chose to confront Kennedy at such risky places as the Bay of Pigs, the Vienna summit, the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis, when the threat of nuclear war hovered over the world. This unusual memoir, very personal but also professional, intimately recaptures this fascinating moment in Russian-American relations. Eye-catching is the surprising comparison it evokes with the modern, perilous Putin era, when a Kremlin leader regularly turns his back on the West rather than, like Khrushchev, leader of a "different Russia," pursues his aims, yet open to compromise and hope for better times.

Read more

About the author


For more than 70 years, MARVIN KALB has been a journalist, teacher and writer. An award-winning author of 17 books, Kalb is the Murrow Professor emeritus at Harvard, founding Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, former CBS and NBC Diplomatic Correspondent and Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Brookings Institution.
Read more

Book Reviews

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Susan
A Different Russia Few know Russia the way Marvin Kalb does from years of direct experience. A gifted writer, his books are always thoughtful and objective, with plenty of personal stories and insights to keep the reader fully engaged. Those of us who remember the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis will be thrown back in time, but everyone will benefit from Kalb's careful analysis of diplomacy and the mental workings of two renowned world leaders. Read more