Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Read and listen as much as you want
  • Over 950 000 titles
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Try now
image.devices-Singapore 2x

The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba

5 Ratings

4.4

Duration
17H 33min
Language
English
Format
Category

History

A “balanced, engrossing account” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) of the Bay of Pigs crisis drawing on long-hidden CIA documents and delivering the vivid truth of five pivotal days in April 1961.

At the heart of the Bay of Pigs crisis stood President John F. Kennedy, and journalist Jim Rasenberger traces what Kennedy knew, thought, and said as events unfolded. He examines whether Kennedy was manipulated by the CIA into approving a plan that would ultimately involve the American military. He also draws compelling portraits of the other figures who played key roles in the drama: Fidel Castro, who shortly after achieving power visited New York City and was cheered by thousands (just months before the United States began plotting his demise); Dwight Eisenhower, who originally ordered the secret program, then later disavowed it; Allen Dulles, the CIA director who may have told Kennedy about the plan before he was elected president (or so Richard Nixon suspected); and Richard Bissell, the famously brilliant “deus ex machina” who ran the operation for the CIA—and took the blame when it failed. Beyond the short-term fallout, Rasenberger demonstrates, the Bay of Pigs gave rise to further and greater woes, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and even, possibly, the assassination of John Kennedy. Written with elegant clarity and narrative verve, The Brilliant Disaster is the most complete account of this event to date, providing not only a fast-paced chronicle of the disaster but an analysis of how it occurred—a question as relevant today as then—and how it profoundly altered the course of modern American history.

© 2011 Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook): 9781442344778

Release date

Audiobook: 5 April 2011

Others also enjoyed ...

  1. The Final Days Bob Woodward
  2. The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Bob Woodward
  3. Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich Robert Gerwarth
  4. The Last of the President's Men Bob Woodward
  5. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany William L. Shirer
  6. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East Michael B. Oren
  7. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters James W. Douglass
  8. Vietnam: An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975 Max Hastings
  9. All the President's Men Bob Woodward
  10. The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World Douglas Valentine
  11. The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace Paul Thomas Chamberlin
  12. The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity Michael Duffy
  13. A History of Fascism, 1914–1945 Stanley G. Payne
  14. Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East Fawaz A. Gerges
  15. Kissinger: A Biography Walter Isaacson
  16. 1917: Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder Arthur Herman
  17. Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Richard Rhodes
  18. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 Christopher Clark
  19. The Guns of August Barbara W. Tuchman
  20. Hoover’s FBI: The Inside Story by Hoover’s Trusted Lieutenant Cartha ”Deke” DeLoach
  21. The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir John Bolton
  22. America’s Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle between America and its Enemies George Friedman
  23. The Soviet Union during the Brezhnev Era: The History of the USSR Under Leonid Brezhnev Charles River Editors
  24. Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation Steve Vogel
  25. The Death of a President: November 20–November 25, 1963 William Manchester
  26. The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World Catherine Nixey
  27. Nixon and Kissinger Robert Dallek
  28. The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East Guy Laron
  29. Hitler's Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich Ben H. Shepherd
  30. Wilson A. Scott Berg
  31. Battle: The Story of the Bulge John Toland
  32. Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House Robert Dallek
  33. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Daniel Gordis
  34. Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 Stephen Kotkin
  35. A Lie Too Big to Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Lisa Pease
  36. Moscow, December 25,1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union Conor O'Clery
  37. In the Enemy's House: The Secret Saga of the FBI Agent and the Code Breaker Who Caught the Russian Spies Howard Blum
  38. Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made Richard Rhodes
  39. Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union Vladislav M. Zubok
  40. The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam Barbara W. Tuchman
  41. The Vory: Russia's Super Mafia Mark Galeotti
  42. The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance Paul Strathern
  43. Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson
  44. Five Days in November Clint Hill
  45. The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past Shaun Walker
  46. The Afghan Wars: History in an Hour Rupert Colley

Features:

  • Over 950 000 titles

  • Kids Mode (child safe environment)

  • Download books for offline access

  • Cancel anytime

Most popular

Unlimited

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$12.98 /month
3 days for free
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Bi-yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$69 /6 months
14 days for free
Save 11%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Unlimited Yearly

For those who want to listen and read without limits.

S$119 /year
14 days for free
Save 24%
  • 1 account

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

Try now

Family

For those who want to share stories with family and friends.

From S$14.90/month
  • 2-3 accounts

  • Unlimited Access

  • Unlimited listening

  • Cancel anytime

2 accounts

S$14.90 /month
Try now