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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!

The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara is historical fiction based on the time from the Bay of Pigs to the end of 1962 and the nuclear missile crisis in Cuba. It was very well-done, fact-based and well-researched. The only fictional part of it were the conversations had by the actors, for instance, President Kennedy, the Attorney General, Khrushchev and is staff, et al. It was primarily a non-fiction book in form and content and a very readable one. This was a frightening time in our history and he managed to convey that emotion as well as a fair appraisal of what was going on throughout it all. It was well-done. Thanks, Jeff Shaara for another educational historical fiction book!

I was invited to read The Shadow of War by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #JeffShaara #TheShadowOfWar

The Shadow of War, Jeff Shaara’s new novel, paints a detailed picture of the Cuban Missile Crisis that greatly enhances my memories as a junior high student at the time. I recall duck and cover practices under our school desks and my older brother's stocking canned foods and bottled water in our home’s sub-basement where my family hoped we might survive nuclear fallout if Russian missiles based in Cuba targeted the Strategic Air Command based in Omaha a couple hours away.

Shaara begins with Florida-based Cuban immigrants landing on the Cuban coast to help the CIA carry out what they were told would be a well-supported campaign to topple Fidel Castro. Waiting for supplies that don’t arrive and massive air cover that ends up consisting of a single plane quickly shot down by Cuban jets, they feel betrayed. The Bay of Pigs invasion becomes one of American history's fiascos.

The story next turns to recently elected President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy as they react to the Bay of Pigs failure. Having previously insisted that Americans would never invade Cuba to take down Castro, President Kennedy decides to admit American involvement and accept blame for the failure. Shaara makes clear what I hadn’t known or understood as a child—that the Bay of Pigs invasion was not Kennedy’s plan, but an inherited one and that he had called off military support to the immigrants on the ground out of fear that the world would realize it was not a Cuban refugee-planned attack, but an American-backed one.

From there, Shaara traces the months leading up to the Cuban Missile crisis, using historical records, diaries, and other such documents to. He recounts ,events through a variety of viewpoints, political, military and civilian, free world and communist world. While most of the book focuses on the Cuban Missile Crisis, on key figures involved on both sides, and on civilian experience of those events, the Epilogue helps fill in the aftermath.

Unlike most historical fiction in which writers depict fictional characters caught up in momentous events, sometimes crossing paths with famous real-life figures, The Shadow of War features only historic figures. Rather than making up the dialogue, Shaara draws it from historic records, using lines gleaned from his meticulous research. Perhaps the dialogue’s very factualness occasionally makes it seem somewhat awkward when fit into the historical narrative, but there is no questioning the accuracy with which Shaara recreates these tense months of U.S. and Russian/Cuban relations and brings home how close the world came to nuclear war.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader egalley of this excellent new book by Jeff Shaara.

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Wow. I was unnerved after-the-fact as I read this book. You see, I largely grew up in Florida, a mere 90 miles away from Cuba as the news kept reminding us. Although too or too naive to fully grasp the sense of fear many adults knew, it still made an impact. While I've read history books about the time, there's been a sort of filter between the events of those readings and me as a reader, so to speak. This one tore down that filter. You are there. You are living this nightmare. Shaara puts us, to paraphrase a line from Hamilton, in the rooms where it happened. And, unlike my younger self, I'm old enough now to shiver as I realize how very, very close we came to annihilation. That's the power of Jeff Shaara's writing style. While historical fiction, he evokes that "you are there" sense, relying on in-depth research and extensive readings to create the scenes that reveal how close we came to the edge.

I won't detail the cat-and-mouse games that lead us to that point as, quite frankly, I'd be depriving you of experiencing the scenario as it unfolds by trying to even hit the highlights. Trust me, there are many, from the opening scenes revolving about the Bay of Pigs fiasco to the aftermath, revealing not only how Kennedy's stand paid off -- and it came close to not doing so -- so what happened to each of the players of the story. One thing I will note, however, is how this showed the growing maturity of both John and Robert Kennedy, their ability to learn from mistakes, as well as their ability to accept their responsibility for the situation. The thoughts attributed to Joseph Russo, another real character you'll get to know well throughout the story, at the end should also evoke thought.

History buffs or those who lived through this should grab a copy of this book as soon as possible. If old enough, you'll be compelled to read, even as you shudder after the fact, realizing how close we came to not growing up. Teachers, history teachers in particular, of which I was one, you definitely need to read this book and make sure it's on library shelves. Thank you to #NetGalley and #StMartin'sPress for sharing this early glimpse of, well, what I'm rather glad happened too early in my life to have left much impact. I hope we never come face to face with possible annihilation again.

Shaara never disappoints in his highly detailed histories of some of the biggest moments in our nation's history. The Shadow of War takes the reader behind the scenes as President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev play a game of war that could have ended in world destruction during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I enjoyed learning all of the machinations that happened to keep us from launching nuclear weapons at each other, ensuring the annihilation of both countries' citizens. I wasn't alive during this crisis but I can't imagine how scary it was for the American public. Shaara does a great job at getting into the heads of these leaders and showing how the tension deescalated.

Perfect gift for Father's Day!