The event known as the Cuban missile crisis, the greatest of all Cold War crises, is a milestone in the history of the Cold War. Some analysts even have concluded that what was called the Cold War ended in 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis. Yet there is perhaps no single event in recent history as puzzling as this one. There are many questions that still remain unanswered. Why did Khrushchev risk so much? What was his ultimate purpose? Why did he withdraw so fast? Why did he not retaliate at other sensitive points, like Berlin? Why did President Kennedy not seize the heaven-sent opportunity to get rid of Castro? Why did the Americans permit the shootdown of a U-2 plane over Cuba without taking retaliatory actions? Who shot down the U-2, and under what conditions did it happen? Why did Kennedy allow the Soviet ships to leave Cuba without boarding them, to physically verify that the canvas-covered objects on deck were actually missiles and their nuclear warheads on their way back to...