Facing The Brink: An Intimate Study Of Crisis Diplomacy
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the height of the Cold War, when the world held its breath and the fate of nations hung on the decisions of a few powerful men, Facing the Brink pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes arena of crisis diplomacy. Written by two of Washington's most seasoned and well-connected journalists, Edward Weintal and Charles Bartlett, this gripping account chronicles the defining international crises of the postwar era — from the Berlin Wall to the Cuban Missile Crisis — presenting an insider's view of how American foreign policy was forged under almost unbearable pressure. Drawing on privileged access to key diplomatic and government figures, the authors reconstruct the tense backroom negotiations and pivotal moments that brought the superpowers to the very edge of catastrophe. What distinguishes Facing the Brink from conventional political history is its intimate, almost novelistic immediacy — a quality that reflects the authors' rare proximity to power and their skill as narrative journalists. Weintal and Bartlett argue compellingly that personal relationships, individual temperament, and improvised judgment were as decisive in shaping outcomes as any official doctrine or grand strategy. The result is a portrait of diplomacy not as an abstract process but as a deeply human endeavour, riddled with uncertainty, ego, and courage — leaving the reader to wonder just how close the world truly came to an irreversible abyss.
Author: Edward Weintal And Charles Bartlett
Format: Hardback
Published: 1967, Scribner
Genre: Cold war & espionage
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
At the height of the Cold War, when the world held its breath and the fate of nations hung on the decisions of a few powerful men, Facing the Brink pulls back the curtain on the high-stakes arena of crisis diplomacy. Written by two of Washington's most seasoned and well-connected journalists, Edward Weintal and Charles Bartlett, this gripping account chronicles the defining international crises of the postwar era — from the Berlin Wall to the Cuban Missile Crisis — presenting an insider's view of how American foreign policy was forged under almost unbearable pressure. Drawing on privileged access to key diplomatic and government figures, the authors reconstruct the tense backroom negotiations and pivotal moments that brought the superpowers to the very edge of catastrophe. What distinguishes Facing the Brink from conventional political history is its intimate, almost novelistic immediacy — a quality that reflects the authors' rare proximity to power and their skill as narrative journalists. Weintal and Bartlett argue compellingly that personal relationships, individual temperament, and improvised judgment were as decisive in shaping outcomes as any official doctrine or grand strategy. The result is a portrait of diplomacy not as an abstract process but as a deeply human endeavour, riddled with uncertainty, ego, and courage — leaving the reader to wonder just how close the world truly came to an irreversible abyss.