At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War

by Thomas Reed

“The Cold War . . . was a fight to the death,” notes Thomas C. Reed, “fought with bayonets, napalm, and high-tech weaponry of every sort—save one. It was not fought with nuclear weapons.” With global powers now engaged in cataclysmic encounters, there is no more important time for this essential, epic account of the past half century, the tense years when the world trembled At the Abyss . Written by an author who rose from military officer to administration insider, this is a vivid, unvarnished view of America’s fight against Communism, from the end of WWII to the closing of the Strategic Air Command, a work as full of human interest as history, rich characters as bloody conflict.

Among the unforgettable figures who devised weaponry, dictated policy, or deviously spied and Whittaker Chambers—the translator whose book, Witness , started the hunt for bigger Communists in our government; Lavrenti Beria—the head of the Soviet nuclear weapons program who apparently killed Joseph Stalin; Col. Ed Hall—the leader of America’s advanced missile system, whose own brother was a Soviet spy; Adm. James Stockwell—the prisoner of war and eventual vice presidential candidate who kept his terrible secret from the Vietnamese for eight long years; Nancy Reagan—the “Queen of Hearts,” who was both loving wife and instigator of palace intrigue in her husband’s White House.

From Eisenhower’s decision to beat the Russians at their own game, to the “Missile Gap” of the Kennedy Era, to Reagan’s vow to “lean on the Soviets until they go broke”—all the pivotal events of the period are portrayed in new and stunning detail with information only someone on the front lines and in backrooms could know.

Yet At the Abyss is more than a riveting and comprehensive recounting. It is a cautionary tale for our time, a revelation of how, “those years . . . came to be known as the Cold War, not World War III.”

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, War, Espionage, Politics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Stuart Berman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be considered one of the essential and great books of the 21st century. It teaches us history and humility, the triumphs of human ingenuity and the great dangers in our nature. It poses a warning and offers tremendous hope. The book draws you in and mesmerizes with its scope and sincerity.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because I was at a luncheon with the author. He is a former Secretary of the Air Force, and by his own admission he was that because they ran out of other candidates (under President Ford). But it is full of stories of the Cold War, in particular the Strategic Air Command (the nuke types). His stories are ones that show the how human the men and women who were in charge of the weapons. In particular the fear and trembling when they received their orders. One story that sticks out was from the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"Picking up the tape, he saw the instructions from Moscow: the rocket forces were to go to 'Combat Mode.' In combat mode, weapons are loaded, communications frequencies changed, and operational documents distributed. that had never happened before in the Strategic Rocket Force, but everyone knew about the confrontation building up in Cuba. The regimental commander tried to open the secret package containing the authenticator. His hands were shaking so badly that he could not do it. The paper envelope was to be cut open with scissors or knife, but the officer cut himself instead."

AtTheAbyss is a collection of stories. By no means is it a reflection on what it all meant, or a discussion of politics or ideology. Those wanting a history that goes into the why would be disappointed. But it provides interesting background reading about what people were thinking and feeling at the time the events happened.

[Ejayen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it. My dad said it was really interesting to hear the back stories behind the news. The only thing I didn't fully like is how each chapter would tell the full story of a subject, then he would go back in time to start the next subject, that said I wouldn't know how else to write it.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author kept going back and forth between history and his story. Some interesting insights later in the book into the fall of the communist ruling of Russia, nuclear control, and the Reagan White House.

[Penecks · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the Abyss is a historical narrative of the Cold War, starting from the foundations of nuclear technology, which is a major theme of the book, and proceeding to the end of the century with the winding down of Communism and attempts to send the nuclear genie back into his bottle.

This book was decently enjoyable, however, it is simply presented completely incorrectly: a far better title would have been "Memoirs of Air Force secretary Thomas Reed." The cold war history actually present is jumpy and hyperfocued on certain aspects while ignoring many vital pieces.

The first third of the book is very good. Reed goes into a good amount of detail on the end of WWII, the start of the soviet nuclear program, as well as political events in the US that eventually led to the red scare, Sputnik, and the heating up between the two powers. Unfortunately it appears Reed realized he had written a large amount of text, not gotten past 1960, and panicked. Readers are then ushered through a turbocharged hodge-podge of the author's career in engineering, the military, and his life in politics as an advisor. Meanwhile significant Cold war events like the Bay of Pigs and even the entire war in Vietnam get barely a page of throw away exposition.

The book recovers just a tad during the Reagan years (since Reed was now directly advising the president about nuclear weapons), but by this point most readers would have given up in finding any traditional Cold war narrative. Comically, the author mentions Oliver North multiple times and then dedicates maybe half of a sentence to Iran-Contra. This perhaps embodies the complete fragmentation of the descriptions of events from 1960-2000.

There is something in this book, especially for those interested specifically in nuclear weapons and their development. Or perhaps Ronald Reagan, to whom many pages are dedicated. However anyone seeking even a broad history of the Cold war would most likely need to look elsewhere.

[Nelson Thibault · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful,  informative,  and concise account of the Cold War in which the author played a key role.  The book's revealing and authoritative nature enhanced my understanding of the Soviet Union's ultimate collapse and my knowledge of people who helped bring it about.  At the Abyss is a significant contribution to the annals of the Cold War and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about events that influenced the outcome of that phenomenal era.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the Cold War though I found the last few chapters to be rather dry.

[Edward L.]

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[Michael Richardson]

I read this book in 2003 or so, after hearing an interview with the author on CBC.
I got this book, and Michael Moore's "Dude, where's my country" for Xmas, and I read them at the same time.
I did not understand the patriot's view of the 1950s/1960s, and now I do.
The US is now out of control--- but this wasn't Thomas Reed's doing.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you known that Nancy Reagan was a assigned a handler? How about the philosophy war among the Reagen staffers regarding how to treat the USSR and handle the cold war. An interesting perspective one the "Great Communicator."

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://horsebits-jrc.blogspot.com/201...

[Zulfiqar · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Washington was keen to block the deal and, after securing President Reagan's approval in January 1982, the CIA tricked the Soviet Union into acquiring software with built-in flaws.
"In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline joints and welds," Mr Reed writes. The project exceeded the CIA's wildest dreams. There were no casualties in the explosion, but it was so dramatic that the first reports are said to have stirred alarm in Washington. The initial reports led to fears that the Soviets had launched a missile from a place where rockets were not known to be based, or even had detonated "a small nuclear device", Mr Reed writes in his book. While some of the details of the CIA's counter-offensive have emerged before, the sabotage of the gas pipeline has remained a secret until now. Mr Reed told the Post he had CIA approval to make the disclosures. Mr Vetrov's spying was discovered by the KGB and he was executed in 1983.” (Russell, Alec. The Telegraph. “CIA plot led to huge blast in Siberian gas pipeline”Feb 28th 2004)