In a world still reeling from the fallout of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of American bombers—armed with a deadly payload of nuclear weapons—heads towards Moscow, their motives mysterious. Suddenly, a nuclear apocalypse looms closer than it ever has—and the lives of millions of people depend on the high-stakes diplomacy of leaders on both sides of the divide.

This novel is the basis for a movie version released in 1964, starring Henry Fonda. Author Eugene Burdick’s political science credentials make this more than an ordinary thriller—it’s also a fascinating social commentary on Cold War politics. Fail-Safe explores the thin line between peace and global destruction that characterized this turbulent time. As relevant today as it was on the day it was published, this is a high-tension tale that’s nearly impossible to put down.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Born in Sheldon, Iowa, Eugene Burdick (1918–1965) was a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as Chairman of the World Affairs Council in San Francisco and as one of the first members of the Society for General Systems Research. He published his first novel, The Ninth Wave, in 1956. He is the author of the best-selling thriller The Ugly American, along with Bill Lederer.

An American author and professor of political philosophy at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, John Harvey Wheeler (1918–2004) is also the author of several fiction and nonfiction books, as well as a founding editor of the Journal of Social and Biological Structures. His books include Rise of the Elders, Lattimore the Scholar, and Democracy in a Revolutionary Era.