Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba's Struggle with the Superpowers after the Missile Crisis
The value of Blight and Brenner's book is that it presents the Cuban perspective in extensive detail.Sad and Luminous Dayswill provide an important counterpoint to the stream of simplistic books about the missile crisis that are sure to appear. (Library Journal)Recommended. (CHOICE)The book is well written, meticulously researched, balanced, and is an excellent read. (Political Studies Review)Clearly written, well argued, thoroughly documented, and worth a read. Achieve[s] some major breakthroughs that aid in our understanding of contemporary Cuba. (Science & Society)Drawing on newly declassified documents from the U.S., Cuba, and Russia, as well as interviews with former officials in all three countries, Blight and Brenner show how the missile crisis was caused, in large part, by a lack of empathy between Washington, Havana, and Moscow. I have known for some time that we in the Kennedy administration misunderstood the Cubans and Russians. But inSad and Luminous Days, we learn the many ways the Cubans and Russians misunderstood each other, and how those misunderstandings made the crisis as dangerous as it was. The book is a superb addition to recent history and is full of important lessons for relations between Great Powers and small countries, beginning with the lesson: 'Empathize with your adversary, or you may regret it!'(Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (1960–1968))Using interviews with senior officials and recently declassified documents from Cuba, the United States, and the former Soviet Union, Blight and Brenner brilliantly show how Fidel Castro manipulated the Great Powers while posing as their innocent victim. This is a well-researched and beautifully written account of the triangular relationship that brought the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe.(Robert A. Pastor, professor and director of the Center for North American Studies, American University)Sad and Luminous Daysis an absolutely fundamental contribution to our knowledge of the Cuban missile crisis, Soviet-Cuban relations, and the difficulties facing Great Powers and small countries in their dealings with each other. Its principal lesson—the necessity (and the difficulty) of achieving realistic empathy with one's adversary—is especially salient at a moment when the remaining superpower, the United States, has declared a 'war on terrorism' involving potential confrontations between the U.S. and many other smaller countries. All U.S. decision-makers should read this book and learn its lessons before they attempt to carry out their 'war on terrorism.' (Sergei N. Khrushchev, Brown University; author of Khrushchev on Khrushchev: An Inside Account of the Man and His Era, by His Son, Sergei Khrushchev)This splendid book shows starkly the deep differences between Cuba and the Soviet Union during the half-dozen years that followed the 1962 missile crisis. Those differences arose from the way the Soviets negotiated with the United States in 1962, without prior consultation with the Cubans. The authors eloquently build their case with many fascinating interviews with Soviet and Cuban decision makers and a spectacular, hitherto secret 1968 speech wherein Fidel Castro explained to the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee why the Soviets were untrustworthy. This thoughtful and learned book is also a great read.(Jorge I. Dominguez, director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University)Empathy is believed by many to be a soft-hearted approach in a world that requires us to be hard-headed. This wonderful book amply demonstrates, however, that this view of empathy is false and derives from a fundamental misunderstanding of what empathy actually entails. The events of September 11, 2001 demonstrate how profoundly tragic may be the result of our failure to reach a deep and comprehensive understanding of how the world looks through the eyes of our adversaries. Blight and Brenner brilliantly explore how the failure of the U.S., Cuba, and the Soviet Union to achieve such understanding brought us to the very threshold of nuclear annihilation in October 1962 and, in so doing, provide an utterly essential guide to negotiating the treacherous waters of the twenty-first century.(Paul L. Wachtel, distinguished professor of psychology, City University of New York at City College)This challenging account of the missile crisis and its aftermath casts fascinating light on Fidel Castro and his Cuba. AfterSad and Luminous Days,no one will be able to write the same way about Castro's relationship with the Kremlin. (Arthur Schlesinger Jr.)Every so often a work of history comes along that turns conventional wisdom on its head and brings to light previously mysterious, indeed hidden nuggets of truth, opening a new dimension to what we long held as the only conceivable plot line. Blight and Brenner's eloquent, beautifully written book brings to life in poignant, vivid, and solidly documented prose what until now has been a footnote in the standard accounts of the Cuban missile crisis: the Cuban perspective.Sad and Luminous Daysdemonstrates why the two authors are pioneers in writing Cold War history with newly declassified documents and sets the standard for the rest of us. (Julia Sweig, author of Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground)