Description
Book SynopsisIn October 1962, the fate of the world hung on the American response to the discovery of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba. That response was informed by hours of discussions between John F Kennedy and his top advisers. This title reveals how conversational practices and dynamics shaped Kennedy's perception of the options available to him.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2013 Melvin Pollner Prize, Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Section of the American Sociological Association "[W]ith his thorough and incisive analysis of the ExComm meetings, David Gibson has provided a new, refreshing, and disturbing look at how US decision-makers responded to the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba."--Asa McKercher, Dzplomacy & Statecraft "For its empirical contribution alone, Talk at the Brink is required reading for scholars of Cold War history and American politics. The writing is witty and uncluttered, while the raw intimacy of the back-and-forth among ExComm members, as rendered by the painstakingly precise transcription and coding, makes for a rather riveting and eminently teachable experience."--Phaedra Daipha, American Journal of Sociology "Gibson's Talk at the Brink is a stimulating and insightful contribution to scholarship on one of the single most important events in American history of the past sixty years--the Cuban Missile Crisis... The book is well worth a read, and a place on your bookshelf."--Erik Schneiderhan, Oxford University Press
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Excerpts ix Preface xi Chapter 1 - Introduction: Talk in Time of Crisis 1 Chapter 2 - The Future in Thought and Talk 24 Chapter 3 - The ExComm 49 Chapter 4 - The Response 74 Chapter 5 - The Blockade 109 Chapter 6 - The Deal 135 Chapter 7 - Conclusion 159 Appendix A - Timeline of Events and ExComm Meetings 167 Appendix B - Dramatis Personae 175 Appendix C - Conversation-Analytic Transcribing Conventions 177 Appendix D - The Audio Recordings 181 Notes 183 Bibliography 203 Index 213
