K Blows Top

A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist

By: Peter Carlson

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Paperback | 6 July 2010 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
352 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.2 x 15.4 x 22.9

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Khrushchev’s 1959 trip across America was one of the strangest exercises in international diplomacy ever conducted. Khrushchev told jokes, threw tantrums, sparked a riot in a San Francisco supermarket, wowed the coeds in a home economics class in Iowa, and ogled Shirley MacLaine as she filmed a dance scene in Can-Can. He befriended and offended a cast of characters including Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe.

K Blows Top is a work of history that reads like a Vonnegut novel. This cantankerous communist’s road trip took place against the backdrop of the fifties in America, with the shadow of the hydrogen bomb hanging over his visit like the Sword of Damocles. As Khrushchev kept reminding people, he was a hot-tempered man who possessed the power to incinerate America.

Industry Reviews

Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History and Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University
"What a joy it was to read Peter Carlson's "K Blows Top," With vivid detail, crisp language, subtle wit, and admirable new research, Carlson recounts Khrushchev's notorious bungling around America in 1959. A truly fine piece of writing and Cold War scholarship."

Christopher Buckley, author of "Thank You for Smoking" and "Supreme Courtship"
"Peter Carlson's K Blows Top is an utterly hilarious and un-putdown-able story about one of the strangest episodes of the Cold War -- Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the U.S. Someone absolutely has to make this into a movie. I insist!"

The Daily Beast, from Christopher Buckley, author of "Thank you for Smoking "and "Little Green Men"
"I can't remember when I've had more fun with a book...simply hilarious."

Steve Coll, author of "Ghost Wars" and "The Bin Ladens."
"Any work of history whose chapter titles include "It Killed Milton Berle and It Can Kill You Too" and "Chihuahuas For Khrushchev" deserves to be read. Like the mid-century journalists who chronicled this Strangelovian chapter of the Cold War, Peter Carlson writes with wit, energy, clarity, and delightful skepticism. This book seems to have been a joy to write; it is certainly a joy to read."

Daniel Schorr, Senior News Analyst, National Public Radio
"This book recreates in vivid detail one of the most astonishing figures in our recent history. The Communist leader's storming of America can be enjoyed by everyone, but especially those with memories of that singular episode in the winding down of the Cold War."

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Regional & National History European History History of the Americas Politics & Government International Relations Diplomacy Earliest Times to Present Day 20th Century History from 1900 to 2000 Post War 20th Century History after 1945 General & World History

Prologue: K Blows Top	p. ix
The Heat in the Kitchen	p. 1
Dueling proverbs
Arguing about animal dung
Khrushchev takes the Pepsi challenge
The kitchen debate
Nixon gets zapped
How many nukes does it take to wipe out England?
The new party line on love
Nixon gets drunk
Khrushchev's coming! Khrushchev's coming!
"A Surreal Extravaganza"	p. 49
"The worst human being on earth."
What should K see?
Shooting the moon
K meets J. Edgar Hoover
Fondling animals
Khrushchev throws a tantrum
Communism is like my wart
The premier tells a Jewish joke
The dentists fight back
Stuck in an elevator
Bronx cheers in New York
Khrushchev fever sweeps Hollywood
Nikita meets Marilyn
Can-Can
Khrushchev fakes a tantrum
Barnstorming to San Francisco
"Mankind's face is more beautiful than its backside."
J. Edgar Hoover gets caught with his pants down
A riot in the cathedral of capitalism
A Cossack charge in Coon Rapids, Iowa
Communist dictator in a home ec class
Camp David
Chasing butterflies
The first to be shot
Chihuahuas for Khrushchev
Stormy applause
The Banging of the Shoe	p. 251
Spy in the sky
Obligatory sex scene
"That son-of-a-bitch, Richard Nixon."
Rendezvous with Fidel
The guest who wouldn't leave
Banging the shoe
"I feel vicious, malicious, and low!"
Epilogue: "Life Is a Cosmic Joke"	p. 295
Acknowledgments	p. 309
Notes on Sources	p. 311
Index	p. 315
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

K Blows Top

A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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