In the darkest days of the Cold War, in the early 1960's, Marvin Kalb, a young and dynamic American reporter, found himself in Moscow covering a slippery confrontation between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy. A succession of near collisions brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. Khrushchev thought he had Kennedy's number; that proved to be a dangerous miscalculation. Until Kennedy was assassinated, and Khrushchev kicked out of power, both super-powers warily sought to avoid direct conflict, trying to reach an accommodation of interests, if possible. Under Putin, the U.S. faces a totally different Russia, one that's angrily turned its back on the West. Kalb has written an unusual memoir, deeply personal and yet highly professional, exploring a profoundly important question: can Russia and America coexist peacefully, or are they doomed to slide into mortal confrontation.

Marvin Kalb is a prolific international correspondent with a long history in broadcast news, including the popular Kalb Report, and the author of 17 books on Russia, the media, and foreign policy. The recipient of numerous journalism awards, Kalb served for many years as chief diplomatic correspondent and host of "Meet the Press" on NBC. Founder of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School, Kalb is an expert on media ethics and responsibility. His latest publication is "Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War.”