L.V. SCOTT is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where since 1990 he has specialised in international history and intelligence studies. From 1984 to 1988 he was Political Assistant to the Rt Hon Denis Healey, MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary. He has written on a variety of defence and security issues, and is the author of Conscription and the Attlee Governments: The Politics and Policy of National Service 1945-51, published in the Oxford Historical Monographs series.

Preface General Editor's Preface Glossary Improbable History The Cuban Revolution and British-American Relations Discovery and Blockage: Informing or Consulting? Converging Perspectives and Divergent Views Westminster and Hyde Park: British Politics and the Crisis Diplomatic Initiatives and Devious Approaches Ormsby-Gore and Penkovsky: British Contributions? Thor and Vulcan: British Gods of War 'The Frightful Desire to do Something' Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

In October 1962, the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This study provides a new archive-based account of the Cuban missile crisis, providing the first detailed and authoritative account from the British perspective. The book draws upon new British and US archival material and recent scholarship in the west and the former USSR. The diplomatic, military and intelligence dimensions of British policy are scrutinised. New material is presented and existing interpretations of UK-US relations at this crucial moment are reassessed. The book contributes a new aspect to the literature on the Cuban missile crisis, by exploring where the views of Washington and its closest ally converged and diverged.