January, 1953. It is eight years on from the most destructive conflict in human history and the Cold War has entered its most deadly phase. An Iron Curtain has descended across Europe, and hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union have turned hot on the Korean peninsula, as the two powers clash in an intractable and bloody proxy war.

Meanwhile, the pace of the nuclear arms race has become frenetic. The Soviet Union has finally tested its own atom bomb, as has Britain. But in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the United States has detonated its first thermonuclear device, dwarfing the destruction unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.

For the first time the Doomsday Clock is set at two minutes to midnight, with the chances of a man-made global apocalypse becoming increasingly likely. As the Cold War powers square up in political and military battles around the globe, every city has become a potential battleground and every citizen a target. 1953 is set to be a year of living dangerously.

‘A page-turning account of an epoch-changing year, with unexpected portraits and gripping narrative details. Popular history at its best.’ - Andrew Marr

‘A fascinating account of a remarkable year. Roger Hermiston builds a compelling, and eminently readable, case for the view that 1953 was a pivotal year, a turning point in the Cold War and in the creation of the world we still inhabit today.’ - Jonathan Freedland, Guardian columnist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Long View

‘For far too long, 1953 has been thought of as a monochrome year; just another twelve months in the boring 1950s. Now Roger Hermiston explodes that theory by showing it in all its most vivid colours, presenting it in a way that will ensure that it will be appreciated as a true turning point in modern history. His gripping account of the death of Stalin, the discovery of DNA, Winston Churchill’s stroke, Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency and so much more will stay with readers long after they finish the last page of this well-researched, thoughtful, well-written and groundbreaking book.’ - Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny