Kruschev se cabrea. El esperpéntico viaje del líder soviético a los EE.UU.

by Peter Carlson

En el año 1959 la guerra fría estaba en su apogeo; dos superpotencias tenían la capacidad de destruir el mundo gracias a la bomba atómica, las tensiones estaban a flor de piel, en los colegios estadounidenses se explicaba a los niños cómo actuar ante la posible aniquilación del mundo, las familias construían refugios nucleares bajo el jardín trasero de sus casas, las amenazas diplomáticas estaban a la orden del día; en estas circunstancias sucedió un hecho que pudo cambiarlo todo, Nikita Kruschev quería visitar Estados Unidos para conocer el país que amenazaba con destruir, y, sorprendentemente, el presidente Eisenhower aceptó invitarle; a partir de ese momento empezó lo que puede considerarse el capítulo más cómico e ilustrativo de toda la guerra fría. Diplomáticos, políticos, empresarios, policías, militares, actores, cantantes y, sobre todo, una legión de periodistas empezaron a preparar cada uno de los días en los que el líder soviético recorrería parte de los Estados Unidos. Nadie quedó indiferente a esta aventura extraordinariamente contada por Carlson que comenzó con Kruschev llegando casi a las manos con el entonces vicepresidente Nixon; pasa por un encuentro en Hollywood con Marilyn Monroe, quien resumió el mismo con un “me miró como un hombre mira a una mujer”, con Frank Sinatra haciendo de maestro de ceremonias y con Shirley MacLaine bailando el can-can ante la nerviosa mirada del matrimonio Kruschev. Todo el viaje tiene componentes de tensión, situaciones surrealistas y grandes dosis de humor, pero fue también la primera vez que los dirigentes de dos grandes países se muestran tan humanos e imperfectos, tan frágiles y tan cercanos que empezó a cambiar la percepción sobre el poder en la opinión pública. No podemos dejar de referirnos al título, extraído de un titular del New York Daily News cuando Kruschev entró en cólera porque no le dejaron visitar Disneylandia.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Politics, American History, 20th Century, Travel

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2009

About the author

Peter Carlson is the author of K Blows Top, which has been optioned for a feature film. For 22 years, he was a reporter and columnist for the Washington Post and is now a columnist at American History magazine. He has also written for Smithsonian, Life, People, Newsweek, The Nation, and The Huffington Post. He lives in Rockville, MD.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is there to say really about a travelogue in which a man so hell-bent on a type of World Domination pays a visit on an unsuspecting nation and in turn proceeds to wreak havoc on everything (and everyone) that he meets there? Well, if that person is Nikita S. Khruschev, Premiere of the Supreme Soviet during the bucolic, idyllic days of the Eisenhower era, you've got yourself one HELL of a story to tell!

The book itself is divided up into three separate sections (or "trips" mind you as the author puts it) on three different experiences that Khrushchev had in the years 1959 and 1960. It starts out with the famous "Kitchen Debate" between him and Vice-President Nixon in Moscow and then segues almost painlessly to the "surreal extravaganza" that was Premiere Khrushchev's first visit to America, a land of hula hoops, tail fins, Levittown and (shockingly enough) a place called Disneyland that Khrushchev was famously denied admittance to! Criss-crossing the country, Khrushchev butts heads not only with the President of the United States (who at first is none too pleased with the visit itself) but the members of the National Press Club as well as a roomful of classic Hollywood celebrities and an entire supermarket in San Francisco as well! Krushchev also made it to Iowa of all places, but to find out what he was doing there you gotta read the book! In between all this, a U-2 spy plane is downed over Russia and a long planned for summit is ruined leading us up to the famed "banging of the shoe" incident in September, 1960 at the United Nations (a journey more widely known for its initial meeting of both Khrushchev and his Cuban patron Fidel Castro). By this time, America had "gotten wise" to the wily ways of the nefarious Soviet strongman restricting him solely to the island of Manhattan upon this his final visit to America.

All in all, this was a light and slightly comical look at one man's audacity as well as his various parts of a type of "charm offensive" upon the people of this country, people that he never failed to mention he had the ability to wipe off the face of the earth with just one nuclear warhead! It's sobering stuff, but told this way...it was done just SO well!

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2009

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1961, when I was eight years-old, two older, seemingly cooler cousins from New Jersey taught me a parody which, at the time, I thought was the funniest thing I had ever heard:

Krushchev, the bald-head Russian,
Had a very shiny head.
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say he's Red.

All of the other Russians
Used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Krushchev
Play in any Russian games.

...and so on.

I memorized that and sang it non-stop on my return home, probably annoying all of my friends. It did not annoy Sister Clemenza, however. I was taught by a rather small but violent sect of Italian nuns. Not sure why we drafted Italian nuns. But Sister Clemenza was my second-grade teacher. Her English was limited. Usually (but not always) prophylactically, she would drive her fingers into our foreheads to make a disciplinary point. Anyhow, in addition to being a molder of youth, she was also an ardent, bug-eyed anti-Communist.

I sang the Krushchev song for Sister Clemenza. It resonated in her John F. Kennedy-loving, Red-hating soul. I think she viewed me then more as a Vessel of Liberty than an off-key smart-aleck, which is what I actually was. Not taking a modest "no, please" as an answer, she made me write out the song on the blackboard in front of the whole class so that everyone could copy and memorize it to assist in the glorious fight for freedom. Which I did, precocious little shit that I was.

Everyone was able to copy this new anthem....except that is for Michael B. who was what they called at the time "slow". There were only eight students in that class, but the next year there were only seven. Michael B. "disappeared", kind of like Communists who didn't toe the party line "disappeared" back in those days. I felt oddly responsible.

K Blows Top captures the odd logic of those times and brought back many memories: the fear, the satire and the incongruities.

Come back, Michael B. Have a seat. And I'll shut up.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with this kind of “forgotten history” is right down my alley. It is subtitled a “comic interlude” and it really is a lightly comic story in the absurdity of politics that also is dropped in the deadly serious era of the Cold War.

In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made a tour of the United States at the invitation of President Eisenhower. The image most of us have of Khrushchev is a dictator with a short temper and some unintentionally comic looks. This matches the image of the book, but Nikita was also very clever and intelligent. He loved verbally sparring with Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge.

It starts with Nixon’s trip to the Soviet Union and the famous Kitchen Debate, then gets into the trip which takes Khrushchev to Washington DC, California, Iowa, Pittsburgh, New York City and Camp David.

This leads to the unlikely scenario of the Soviet Premier at a Twentieth Century Fox luncheon crossing paths with Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. Khrushchev wanted desperately to go to Disneyland but is unable to.

The fun fact for me is that I have stayed on the Roswell Garst farm in Western Iowa- one of the stops on the tour.

I really enjoyed the book which is a bit fun trivia, a bit political weirdness and a bit of real Cold War insight. It ends with Nikita returning to New York and his famous stint at the UN of banging his shoe on the table.

The only possible drawback being the story does get a bit heavy at times for an otherwise breezy story. But if this a topic that interests you, it is well worthwhile

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars - Okay book

Ultimately this book left me disappointed and frustrated.

The author tells the story of Nikita Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the U.S. and highlights Khrushchev's irrational (that's putting it lightly) demeanor. He reminds me, at least the way Carlson describes him, of a current, subpar idiotic world leader.

I thought I would really enjoy this book. Carlson's writing style is easy to read and engaging. However, about 20 pages into the book I started to wonder where he was getting all of his information from - what his sources were. There are no footnotes, so naturally I flipped to the end of the book to check for endnotes and/or a bibliography. Nope, neither of those exist in this book. He mentions his sources in a one page scribble at the end of the book. He states, "I'm not an academic and I haven't attempted to write a "scholarly" or "definitive" book, so I don't feel the need to footnote every fact." What a horrible, horrible thing to say and I will say it colored my reading of the book. He then goes on to list the newspapers and four memoirs he used but that's it. There is no easy way for a reader to check quotes and facts. I don't like it and I found it quite pretentious and lazy. It's also infuriating and I'm getting upset as I write, so I'm going to move on.

While Carlson writes well, I found that he was too vague at certain points. This accompanies the lack of source notation. He uses general pronouns in certain areas that make me question the validity of certain statements. I don't say I doubt anything the book is based on. I'm not denying Khrushchev's tour of the U.S., but there are so many little anecdotal things in the book that make me wonder where he's getting his info.

The last thing I'll mention is its flow and structure. The book is organized into three sections: pre-visit, visit, and post-visit. That's no problem. The issue is that each section is broken up into numerous vignettes. At first I didn't have a problem with it, but it soon became choppy and didn't flow too well. The book could have been better edited and formatted to flow better. The reader doesn't need 50+ vignettes. I would rather read a "normal" chapter book with longer sections rather than choppy short sections.

Overall, it made me uncomfortable as a reader. I felt that I couldn't fully trust what he wrote because I had no easy way to check it - or read further if I wanted.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe that I am about to say this, but this book was really, really good! I say that because I am in no way a politically-minded person. I read this book for one reason only: a reading challenge.

When I read the title, which included the word Comic, I wondered how on earth there could be anything comical about this book, communism, politics, or the Cold War. Was I ever wrong! There were so many funny lines and incidents throughout the book that made me either smile, smirk, or laugh aloud. Even in the Prologue there is a bit of humor when one contemplates this coming from a grown man: "Maybe it was Khrushchev throwing a temper tantrum because he wasn't allowed to visit Disneyland." The humor in the first line is the absurdity of a grown man, the Soviet Pemier Nikita Khrushchev, throwing a fit. This first sentence set the tone for humor; however, in the EPILOGUE: "LIFE IS A COSMIC JOKE" the reader learns that "K" was truly upset and even teared up when he was banned from Disneyland.

The book chronicles Nikita Khrushchev's trip to the U.S. during the time of the Cold War and the atomic bomb threat. The author, Peter Carlson, requested all of the film clips from K's trip to America from the library. After seeing the first clip Carlson was admittedly obsessed and eventually wrote this book. The "accidental invitation" to America was due to the fact that K was invited by Ike, but with specific stipulations, none of which the premier received. So when K accepted his "invitation" Eisenhower was angry. The trip eventually became "three trips," with each one being more ludicrous than the previous one.

One of the aspects of the book that I enjoyed is reading about Nixon and his "debates" with the Khrushchev. It was funny (although a bit sad) to read how Nixon didn't hold his own. Nixon was up against a real pro who was charming, charismatic (even in America), funny, intelligent, and tough. In essence, Nixon was no real match for this man. Khrushchev had a Russian proverb for all topics, so Nixon studied up on proverbs, thus began the "proverb race." Funny because I can remember when he was running for president but I was too young to care about that. Now I read that one reason he needed to "handle" Khrushchev well was to get votes. Nixon was irate when he found out that K was coming to America because he felt that he'd been studying long hours memorizing proverbs so he could face him in the proverb race, so he felt Ike had blindsided him. It also made me laugh to read that Nixon thought it was "unfair." I "heard" a little boy whining.

One of my favorite lines in the book is, "...he ridiculed West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer: 'If Adenauer pulls down his pants and you look at him from behind, you can see Germany is divided. If you look at him from the front, you can see Germany will not stand.'" This is indicative of the type of humor in this book. One of the famous "debates" these prominent men had was about animal dung. K made the comment that "This resolution stinks...like fresh horseshit--and nothing smells worse than that." Nixon's response was, "There is something that smells worse than horseshit--and that is pigshit." LOL I can't even imagine that taking place.

Carlson does a superb job writing for both the non-historian/political person such as myself and those who relish in politics and history. K is a man who bullied, bluffed, charmed crowds of people, insulted, complimented, and tried to always one-up America. He talked about how Russia was so much younger than America and yet it was catching up to the U.S. and even would pass it up. Always puffing up his own country and belittling America.

I just want to add that there is also great irony in the book. The dictator had said many times while on his trip that Americans' grandchildren would live under communism one day. After he died and years later, his own son moved to America to live in Rhode Island, and while there the Soviet Union collapsed. K's son, Sergie, remained in RI and even taught at Brown. In 2006 he was on a panel regarding cold war and Susan Eisenhower was there. She had married a Russian and Sergei had become an American citizen. How's that for irony?

Recommendation: Read this book! I NEVER read books such as this one and I truly loved it.

[Rafa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otra vez la culpa fue mía. Esperaba más, pero el libro dio lo que ofrecía.

Colección de anécdotas narradas como si de un periódico se tratara. La verdad es que empieza haciendo bastante gracia, luego ya no tanto y hay un momento en el que ya uno está deseando que Krushev se pire de una vez porque las anécdotas ya aburren. Hay que reconocer que, al menos en mi caso, el libro se redime algo en los últimos capítulos, al tratar la vuelta a EE.UU. del premier soviético, cuando se narran algunas vicisitudes diplomáticas. Sin embargo, al final el libro no deja de ser una comedia ligera de escaso interés.

Un libro amable, escrito de manera amena y ligera, pero sin fondo.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now here's a recently published book that is a fun ride on the time machine! In 1959, when Khrushchev came to the U.S. for the subject trip of this book,I was ten years old -- yet I do remember that it happened, and I especially recall his next trip out when he did the shoe banging at the U.N. (also covered in the book). I and my classmates were terrified that our fates were to be dictated by this world leader whose behaviors surpassed those experienced on certain days each month when we were to be especially nice to mom. Yikes. I even still have my "Last Will and Testament" written as a free time class project at the time!

Now at age 60, it all reads like a sit-com. Mr. Carlson pulls together many past stories and recent interviews to tell the story of K's visit, how it came about (against Ike's wishes), and what it was like from Henry Cabot Lodge's POV to be the man in the middle during the two week "vacation."

I enjoyed the "insider" look into the logistics and true attitudes of those involved, altho as other reviewer's have mentioned, in a rather shallow way, insight-wise. While the story is a true, deeply researched non-fiction, the tone is not one of serious documentary, so look elsewhere for that. (It's like don't read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods as a guide book to the Appalacian Trial. But love it all the same.)

K Blows Top is a fast, fun read overall which I enjoyed. I liked that sometimes I felt as ashamed of us as I did of him. (especially the LA portion of the trip). I learned new words, like "panjandrum". And I actually found points to ponder in some of K's Russian sayings.

I recommend it for those who lived through it or around it, and for younger people who want to feel what it was like during the times their parents or grandparents talk about.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun. Regardless of how he's remembered here in the US today, Nikita Khrushchev comes off as a colorful character who was probably fun to have around... When he wasn't pitching a temper fit. Also, K Blows Top makes clear that Khrushchev was nowhere near as tyrannical and awful as Stalin was--and that some planks of his Communist political platform were quite reasonable and probably smarter and more realistic than a lot of the standard American politics of his day (and today). The main problem there was probably the Soviet Union's unwillingness to admit that they were too poor a country with too little infrastructure to engage in the many idealistic/unrealistic projects that harmed and even killed so many of their citizens (and eventually caused their empire's disintegration). Finally, I will say that I never really realized before reading this book that notorious CIA director Allen Dulles's insistence on continuing the U-2 spy plane missions into the USSR despite Eisenhower's progress on making peace with Khrushchev was probably the single biggest cause of the last three decades of the Cold War. Go figure. Fucking Dulles.

Don't worry, this book isn't nearly as stuffy as I'm making it sound. I feel like the main reason I learned so much by reading it is because it was so much fun to read, I almost didn't notice I was learning. Even if you don't much care about 20th Century politics, this is a fun fish-out-of-water story starring some undisputably unique and highly entertaining characters (Nixon, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Cabot Lodge, and of course Ike and K themselves).

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining work of popular history. It's about Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the United States and the tremendous anger/paranoia/excitement/chaos that it caused. Khrushchev was a complicated man, a toady for Stalin and the man who ordered the invasion of Hungary in 1957, but nevertheless a vast improvement on his predecessor. This book provides us with a fascinating snapshot not only of the Soviet dictator, but also of the mind of America in the 1950s. It was a time when a convention of dentists refusing to be moved from the ballroom they had booked years in advance just so a dinner could be thrown for Khrushchev were praised as anti-communist heroes, when the threat of nuclear annihilation had American children doing duck and cover drills in their classrooms, and a time when consumer capitalism was beginning to hit its absurd and plentiful stride (even as the Soviet Union continued to slide deeper into decrepitude). This book is a fun read.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a lot of fun in this book, but with some really serious issues underneath.

One thing I learned was that "We will bury you" was not a threat between countries but a statement of belief that communism would inevitably replace capitalism everywhere, and that history was on the Soviet side. It was taken as a threat originally anyway, but it may be remembered more that way because of what came after.

After Kruschev's visit to the US, relations were fairly good leading up to the 1960 Summit Conference, but that was derailed with the capture of Francis Gary Powers, crashing over Russia on a spying mission, which was taken as an insult. Kruschev would not back down on Berlin and was insulting to Eisenhower.

Between that - so after returning from the States but before the crash - Kruschev started reducing the military and scrapping plans for new warships. That seems to indicate that his stated desire for disarmament was real.

It was also dangerous. The Soviet version of the military-industrial complex was not thrilled, and neither were other Soviet leaders.

I was already aware of the post-Bay of Pigs deal, where Soviet concessions were admitted but US concessions were secret. Some of Kruschev's outrageous behavior (probably at least partially theatrical, but still...) was probably also complicit, but the losses of face were undoubtedly a factor in his removal.

I don't know enough about the history to know if Brezhnev was worse, but based on this it feels like the end of the Cold War could have come much sooner. That would have been worth something.

The pressures work both ways - one reason Eisenhower would not apologize for the spying is that blaming it on underlings would make him look weak. Looking weak (or not spying) could have been a great move toward peace.

The other thing that I think is worth noting is that Kruschev was responsible for a lot of deaths, but he was also able to denounce Stalin for that later, able to feel regret for that, and all along able to be very human. That could sound like a reason to look for the humanity in people doing horrible things, which is not a reason to excuse actions. I think it is more to the point to realize how much evil a very human person will do because of pride or peer pressure or greed.

And in a lot ways the book isn't that heavy; those are just things I ended up thinking about because of it. Perhaps I should mention that reading about totalitarianism, the FBI's fight against communism, and Nazi occupation of Poland are the things that led me to looking up this book now.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable and very entertaining history of Khrushchev’s famous and surreal visit, which only happened because he misinterpreted Eisenhower’s conditions for such a visit.

Much of the book deals with Khrushchev’s own view of himself and how other Americans saw him, as well as how he used the opportunity to show off. Most of it deals with the outlandish two-week 1959 tour, but Carlson also covers the goodwill generated by the visit and how it was destroyed by the U-2 incident, as well as Khrushchev’s subsequent visit and the “kitchen-debate” with Nixon.

Carlson covers all of the famous highlights of the bizarre visit: Khrushchev’s furious air-punching over the denial of a visit to Disneyland, his rage at seeing an American protesting his “butchery” in Hungary (“If Eisenhower wanted to have me insulted, why did he invite me to come to the United States?”) and his constant references to nuclear war, which seemed to be his favorite topic of discussion when in the US. Carlson also describes the huge number of death threats Khrushchev received, which kept him away from large crowds until Khrushchev himself insisted on it (the first crowds mostly just stared at him)

Unfortunately, it sometimes seems like Carlson doesn’t trust the audience to grasp his story: there is no analysis or commentary, and way too many exclamation points, and the narrative is a bit disrupted by Carlson’s attempts to let the audience know when he’s trying to be funny, almost like a laugh track.

Still, a well-written, dramatic and humorous book.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the height of the cold war Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev spent two madcap weeks exploring 1959 America--kissing babies, hobnobbing with Hollywood stars, touring factories, and setting off riotous media stampedes in an Iowa cornfield and a San Francisco Quality Foods supermarket. Fortunately, Peter Carlson chronicles the whole ridiculous but revealing episode in K Blows Top, a window into the world as it was not so long ago. Khrushchev was alternately charismatic, infuriating, hot-headed, warm-hearted, wily and artless, and Americans were mesmerized in spite of themselves, fascinated, frightened and charmed.

While this is one of the funniest books I’ve read for a while, Carlson doesn’t neglect the serious side of the story. Whatever goodwill was generated by Khrushchev’s visit was lost when the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane in a mission that President Eisenhower only reluctantly approved. Both sides were angered and went into face-saving mode, ruining a multi-leader summit hosted by France’s wryly frustrated Charles De Gaulle and leading to Khrushchev’s UN shoe banging tantrum and the Cuban missile crisis. As Carlson presents him, Khrushchev is a temperamental conundrum who nevertheless brought real reform to the Soviet government after the bloody excesses of Stalin, a truth ironically proved by Khrushchev’s own bloodless 1964 ousting by Leonid Brezhnev.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

K Blows Top is laugh out-loud hilarious. If you're interested in books on the Cold War this one is a must. It's a great companion to Fred Kaplan's 1959: The Year Everything Changed, another great book. K Blows Top can be read as a sequel to the Kaplan book as it pretty much picks up where that book ends. Not very often do I read a non-fiction book that makes me laugh as this one did. The more you know about the time period, the more you'll appreciate the humor.

It just goes to show how, only now that 50 years have passed, we can see the humor of Krushchev's blustering and bluffing. If only we had known then what we know now, we wouldn't have been so stressed. We can laugh at Krushchev's antics and his claims that the Soviet Union was cranking out ICBMs like sausages. Only a handful of people besides Eisenhower (and later Kennedy) knew to what extent he was bluffing.

Carlson lays out the black and white facts of the U2 flights and the information gleaned from them and the fact that Eisenhower approved just one flight too many. But it seems as though Dulles was addicted to the information they were gleaning. The CIA knew the Russians only had a handful of missiles. In fact, Dulles bragged that they had seen every blade of grass in the Soviet Union. It's no wonder Krushchev backed down every single time he tried to push things to a head like West Berlin and Cuba.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nikita Khrushchev seems like such an amazing and terrifying character. Journeying across the United States for two weeks in 1959, he seemed to oscillate between manic episodes of hilarity, sullen withdrawal, and livid spurts of rage. Quite frightening considering he was at the helm of the USSR. Khrushchev comes across as smart and funny at his best, and insecure and unhinged at worst. The use of a shoe as a gavel at the United Nations a year later reinforces the later. This book shows his strengths and his weaknesses, from his quick wit and wicked humor to his red-faced apoplectic anger.

One reason why this book was so interesting was that this book struck home the absurdity and fear of the Cold War. Being a relatively young individual, the specter of communism has never been frightening during my life time, or at least what I remember. This book, and its vivid descriptions of Khrushchev's bluster, as well as some truly frightening tales about Stalin, make it seem far more understandable. When a head of state continually references his ability to obliterate the world, it makes sense that he and his nation would be feared. Somehow even the odd stories like the premier ranting about how he could not go to Disneyland drove home why the Soviet Union seemed like such an existential threat.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny account of Khrushchev's two week visit to America during the Eisenhauer presidency. His verbal duels with then Vice President Richard Nixon are documented and make you cringe at the absurdity of world leaders behaving as they do.

I had forgotten that there was a time, not so long ago, that Russia was ahead of us in the space program and some American scientists felt we were substantially behind Russia in research in many areas. This is the atmosphere in which Khruschev takes a very unusual family vacation to the United States.

I listened to this on book tape and have ordered the book for my husband because so many parts were laugh out loud funny. Thankfully, we are here to laugh because the Soviets never followed through with "boom" as Kruschev and KGB liked to describe their long range missile capabilities at the time. Henry Cabot Lodge, who was showing the country to Kruschev and family, was constantly being reminded that if anything were to happened to Kruschev in American---BOOM.

[Gerald Kinro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of nostalgic for me, as I remember Premier K’s visit to the U.S. Author Carlson takes us back for a behind-the scenes and some not too behind the scenes look at the whole episode. It begins with Nixon’s “Kitchen Debates” in the Soviet Union with the premier. Then comes an accidental invitation that Mr. K accepts. The supporting cast—Host Henery Cabot Lodge, the ambassador to the United Nations, Shirley MaClaine, Marilyn Monroe, and Sinatra augment the comedy of the whole visit. The star itself, however, is Khrushchev. He is flamboyant, outspoken, intimidating, hated, loved—add any adjective you may. Tantrum throwing for not being able to see Disneyland?

I enjoyed the read. I remember Mr. K’s threat to bury us all while his munching on a hotdog. Were his bursts of rage an act or for real? As a kid, I thought they were for real. Nevertheless, Carlson, for this brief enjoyable moment, turns the Cold War into a laughing matter.

[Yalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As something of a Khrushchev buff myself, I read Carlson's work with great delight and amusement (which produced an occasional chuckle when I read certain parts). I have to warn my fellow readers here and know that this book is not academic, but it is not fictional either. It is an honest account - as honest as it could be - about one of the most memorable parts of the Cold War, and it sets out a well rounded account of what went down and how it went down. It is also full of insight into the character of Khrushchev, although that is a byproduct of the main focus of this book. For anyone specifically interested in Khrushchev, or interested about this "escapade" of his (to put it jokingly) as an episode out of the Cold War, this book is will undoubtedly be a great read.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child who grew up a Cold Warrior, I had no idea that our country was so close to understanding, and so close to nuclear war.

This book is why its title says, a Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev. The book follows his time visiting the United States. Against all odds, by time "K" had seen our country, his ideas about outstripping us in tech and weaponry may have been changed - but the charm is in the story telling.

You don't have to know or like or enjoy history or biographies to enjoy this book. Even if I were to have read this knowing it were pure fiction it still would have been enjoyable!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khrushchev tours America in 1959. Here's my favorite quote from this fabulous book: "This trip is like one of those tea parties in Dostoyevsky when everyone meets in apparent comity and then, after three or four minutes, Nikolai Nikolaevich for no discernible reason overturns the boiling samovar on the head of Alexander Alexandrovich. It is a Russian party, elevated only by the possibility that the guest of honor may blow his stack. It is both awesome and deplorable how suddenly Nikita Khrushchev can blow his stack."

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars.

I thought this was really entertaining and readable. My one complaint was that I felt it was extremely sympathetic towards Krushchev and I wish it had been a bit more objective, but that was a small complaint.

[Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In-depth, enjoyable, stirring account of Nikita Kruschev’s visit to the US in 1959. The often overlooked Soviet Premier, and his overlooked visit (and its significance), are brought to life in “K Blows Top”!

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read!!!

[Cheleboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro entretenido, escrito en un estilo muy periodístico, a 100 anécdotas por minuto. Hasta aquí las luces. Las sombras también pesan, y es que el autor, Peter Carlson, ve mucha paja en el ojo ajeno y poca viga en el propio -Kruschev, además de muchas otras cosas, fue un loco de los refranes-, lo que ha terminado por cansarme un poco.
Hilarante, irreverente, detallista y ventajista, a colocar junto a “Producciones Kim Jong-il presenta...” (Paul Fischer, 2015).

[nickoli :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class (The Age of the Cold War), and it was so much better than I was expecting. The writing was engaging, and the focus on the absurdities of Khrushchev’s adventures to the United States expertly narrowed down decades of history into 300 pages, but also made it a fun read.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So here’s a wacky premise: the by-turns jovial and irascible leader of the United States’ sworn enemy, in the shadow of mutually assured destruction, tours the nation at the personal if accidental invitation of the President, with family and a rabid media circus in tow. Hilarity, with a frisson of doomsday, ensues. Even better? It’s all true.
In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev embarked on a historic, bicoastal jaunt across the U.S. While the trip culminated in a (not particularly fruitful) meeting with Eisenhower at Camp David, for most of the ten days “K” (as the space-starved headlines dubbed him) and his wife and children were tourists—albeit tourists with State Department escorts, tight security, and a phalanx of reporters and photographers recording their every move. Honestly, there are so many stranger-than-fiction anecdotes contained in this marvelous tome that I must quell my urge to just pour out all of them, or otherwise you wouldn’t read the book—so here are three indelible images to pique your interest: The American Dental Association patriotically refusing to relocate their convention from the Waldorf-Astoria Ballroom for a government-sponsored luncheon in Khrushchev’s honor (one telegram of support read KEEP ON EXTRACTING THE POISONOUS FANGS OF COMMUNISM). Mrs. Khrushchev, as grey and serviceable as a block of Moscow flats, seated between Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra at a dinner at the Warner Brothers studio commissary (she showed them pictures of her grandchildren). The dictator’s red-faced public tantrum over being told that, because of security concerns, he would not be allowed to go to Disneyland—a chilling reminder that, as much fun as the whole thing seemed on the surface, the nuclear annihilation of most of the world turned on the temper of a short-tempered man.
It would be difficult to write a dull book with such killer material; Peter Carlson’s writing, though, goes past engaging into delightful. He brackets the “surreal extravaganza” of the 1959 trip with the stories of two other important visits: then-Vice President Nixon’s to Moscow the previous year, which resulted in the infamous “kitchen debate” on the set of a corporate-sponsored American Exhibition; and Khrushchev’s return as part of a U.N. delegation in 1960, bizarrely punctuated by his taking off his shoe and pounding it on his desk while making a point, an enduring image of the Cold War, “probably,” wrote K’s granddaughter Nina L. Khrushcheva in 2000, “the only war in which fear and humor peacefully coexisted.” “K Blows Top” walks that line with gusto.

[Scottnshana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens with Nixon preparing for his upcoming visit to Moscow by studying up on proverbs to hurl back at Khrushchev. He knew that they would get into at least one argument in front of the press and Soviet bystanders, and he knew that Khrushchev was a master at employing folksy, pithy, Russian peasant wisdom to silence his opposition. Given over 55 years of hindsight, though, it's easy to see that this was also an epic contest between two monumental assholes--and the world is a lot more forgiving to a man if he's funny. Nixon's career, in my opinion, is one of both an inferiority complex and opportunist who often tried to connect with his audience, only to consistently jack that up. This well-researched and entertaining history points out that Khrushchev at his best was hilarious and a bit profane; at his worst--and Carlson devotes an entire chapter to the shoe incident--he was an intransigent, rude, difficult personality who wasn't afraid to remind any audience that he could push a button and end the world. This book is more than that, though. It's not just about the Eisenhower Administration, but a journey through 1950s America with stops along the way not only in DC, Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, and Iowa, but visits to less tangible places like Eisenhower's famous narrative on the Military Industrial Complex, "Dr. Strangelove", and the evolution of American media--not just some of the dreadful personalities working for the Hearst and Luce organizations, but also reporters damaging supermarkets and farms in the attempt to cover Khrushchev across the country. There are forays into the entertainment industry--Marilyn Monroe, Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine--and jackassery from local politicians (the mayor of LA at one point provoked a serious diplomatic incident and embarrassed President Eisenhower with his grandstanding during this tour), as well as continuous reminders that the Soviet Union preferred to solve its problems with rockets. I like this book and the way it foreshadows later events like Watergate and the Cuban Missile Crisis, but also its narrative of a world that was just getting comfortable with the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction, the demise of European empires, and competition to put people on the moon.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carlson's book focuses on one of those topics that really should not warrant its own book. The trip by the Soviet Premeir is short, just a couple of weeks, and nothing that happened on it is nearly as important as things that occurred at other parts of his tenure as leader of the Soviet Union, the crisis in Berlin and Cuba.

Yet still, Carlson takes something that has long just been a footnote of history and make a compelling read out it. The narrative is incredibly detailed, and the short chapters come quickly, like popcorn tossed in the mouth one after the other.

The amount of detail in the narrative elevates Carlson's work from something that should be a Cold War curio to a work of real historical value. Carlson drags us into the diplomatic back and forth between individuals so that we can get a blow-by-blow account of how international relations is actually conducted. Though I do not think it was Carlson's objective, his detailed accounts allow us to see a full picture of the main actors and why they made the individual decisions that they did.

A good example of this is the Disneyland debacle. We watch as Henry Cabot Lodge forwards a random suggestion of southern California pol on what to spend an open afternoon on in Los Angeles. Khrushchev and his family all agree that seeing Disneyland is their top choice, but Lodge has to nix the idea because law enforcement agents tell Lodge that they will not be able to provide sufficient security for the Premier (and Soviet security agents threatened nuclear apocolypse if the Premier was killed). Khrushchev thought this was part of a plot to dis himself and the Soviet Union, so he complained of it vitrolically to a group of business leaders in LA, leaving the business leaders wondering if it was really just a child who had his finger on the nuclear button.

Yet, despite the amount of details, the narrative moves quickly, chapters are short and the incidents discussed, though they have diplomatic import, are often fairly funny.

Overall, a fun read that has historical value in elucidating an underdiscussed episode in the Cold War.

[Get Booked Fans]

Episode 8:
I’d like to ask you for a book recommendation for my husband who is NOT a reader. I truly love my husband as he is but if I could change anything about him it would be to turn him into a book lover like me. He’s mentioned several times that when he sees me enjoying reading so much sometimes it makes him want to read too. I am determined to find the perfect book for him this Christmas that will make him realize what he’s been missing out on. I think he might like something nonfiction that reads more like fiction maybe about true crime. Nonfiction is not my thing so I’m not sure where to begin. He really enjoys TV shows like Locked Up and Snapped and he’s always interested in stories about the mob. I’d appreciate it if you could you point me in the right direction.

Episode 40:
5. I just finished listening to the audiobook of Unbroken and I absolutely loved it. I loved the combination of a fast paced story with learning about a part of history I knew nothing about. I’m looking for suggestions for more audiobooks with a great story and a little history lesson, preferably about something I may not have learned in high school. I have also recently listened to and enjoyed The Devil in the White City, Seabiscuit, The Boys in the Boat, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
I love the show, thanks in advance for your help!
Shaina
Recommended by: Jenn

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my first semester of college I signed up for a very coveted Freshman seminar titled "Understanding the Cold War." It was a good class. We watched Dr. Strangelove, read Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, and nearly drowned in a growing body of stuffy academic articles dissecting various aspects of the Cold War. However, shortly after the semester started, some jerks flew planes into the World Trade Center, and "understanding terrorism" relegated "understanding the Cold War" to the realm of "oh, wasn't that a simpler time!"

Carlson's account of Khrushchev's tour de force of the United States would have been a brilliant addition to my old college class. Issues of deterrence, mutually assured destruction, american christian-capitalist evangelism vs soviet ideological evangelism, personality cults, duck-and-cover drills, and the somewhat justified fear that the red-faced and rotund man in the Kremlin was certifiably insane. It is a quick read (the short chapters give the feeling that one is flying through the text) and nearly every scene is compelling. Most scenes put a human face on the key decision-makers, introducing the almost unthinkable truth: The folks whose fingers hovered over launch buttons for 40 years were people too!

[Trena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun book, a piece of pop history writing about serious historical events. In 1959, Nikita Khruschev, shoe banger, paid a visit to the US after then VP Nixon visited the USSR and held the "kitchen debate" and there was some kind of kerfuffle with a botched invitation meant to carry prerequisites (the prereqs were left off). I never knew what "kitchen debate" referred to--I vaguely thought it had something to do with FDR's kitchen cabinet--but it turns out to have been a discussion/debate between Nixon and Khruschev held in the kitchen of a model American home installed at a fair in Russia.

Khruschev spent 10 days traveling the US, creating surreal absurdist history wherever he went. "Madcap" is the word that comes to mind. The book chronicles the tour in its entirety of details, including many personal recollections of people present as well as drawing on newspaper and television coverage of the day. It sounds like it could be boring, but the writing is snappy and it's told in short sections of a couple of pages; it's easy to read a few sections or keep going (I read the first 100 pages in a couple of hours).