Above and Beyond: John F. Kennedy and America's Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission - Hardcover

Casey Sherman is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of seven books: The Finest Hours, Boston Strong, Animal, A Rose for Mary, Bad Blood, Black Irish, and Black Dragon. Both The Finest Hours and Boston Strong have been made into major motion pictures. He received the Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalistic Excellence as a member of the CBS Boston news team, and has been nominated for an Emmy Award. A featured guest on major television networks and news programs, Sherman has lectured at the National Press Club and the US Coast Guard Command Center in Washington, DC. He lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts.


Michael J. Tougias is the author and coauthor of twenty-nine books, including So Close to Home (Pegasus, 2016), Rescue of the Bounty (Scribner, 2014), A Storm too Soon (Scribner, 2013), The Finest Hours (Scribner, 2010), Fatal Forecast (Scribner, 2007), and Ten Hours Until Dawn (St Martin's Press, 2005). Tougias has written for the New York Times and several other prestigious magazines and newspapers, and has lectured across the country to groups as diverse as Fortune 500 Corporations, Associations and Public Libraries. He lives in Massachusetts and Florida.

"The authors eloquently convey the difficulties and tensions involved in the [U-2] flights, dramatically magnified during the crisis, when miscalculations could instigate disastrous response by either side....This superbly written, tense, and sometimes sad account views the Cuban Missile Crisis from an unusual and telling perspective."―Booklist, starred

"Unfolds like a spy thriller and serves as an unnerving cautionary tale in a time of reckless brinksmanship."―Boston Globe

"A novelistic approach that involves dramatically recreated scenes and interweaving story lines... The focus on two lesser-known figures gives the book an added dimension beyond other Cuban Missile Crisis histories....[Above & Beyond] hums when describing the strategic maneuvering in Washington.... The authors will leave readers with a greater appreciation of the work required to combat the 'miscalculations, incorrect interpretations, and breakdowns in command and control that could lead to war'."―Publishers Weekly

"Sherman and Tougias present an absorbing account of heroic U-2 pilots Rudolph Anderson and Charles Maultsby and their harrowing missions.... Fascinating."―Library Journal

"The authors have assembled a page-turning narrative. An edifying history that, given America's current global diplomatic stance, is also timely and hopefully instructive to those faced with similarly dire circumstances."―Kirkus Reviews

"A you-are-there retelling of the Cold War's scariest hours."―Military Times

"A fast-paced read with exciting recollections of this tumultuous time guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat....thrilling and nerve-wracking....Even though you know the outcome, it's still enough to get the heart pounding and palms sweating as Kennedy ponders and the U-2 pilots soar into the cross-hairs of history."―Providence Journal

"Readers get a front row seat to a dramatic moment in history."―Cape Cod Times

"Here is the Cuban Missile Crisis as you've never seen it before: through the eyes of the men who flew over the island at 72,000 feet, photographing the missiles that confronted Kennedy with the real possibility of nuclear war. Sherman and Tougias tell their story with pace, riveting new detail, and tremendous economy of style. To be read at one sitting with a stiff Scotch at your elbow."―Giles Whittell, New York Times bestselling author of Bridge of Spies

"Above and Beyond is a thrilling, inspiring story that would make for relevant reading in any era, but today feels essential. It takes you inside the rooms, inside the cockpits, and sometimes inside the minds of the people confronting the most dangerous moments in human history. A tribute to true patriotism and courage, this book reminds us that the bravest warriors, the ones who make the biggest differences, are often the ones who never fire a shot."―Jeffrey E. Stern, coauthor of The 15:17 to Paris