K Blows Top

Reviews

“Carlson seems to have sought and discovered every piece of arcana associated with the Soviet leader’s American sojourn. A deft and amusing writer, Carlson does a marvelous job of recounting it.”

“Peter Carlson’s K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America’s Most Unlikely Tourist may be the most entertaining historical account you’ll ever read.”

“The linked sketches of Khrushy’s boozy, mercurial meanderings through New York, Hollywood, and the Iowa State Fair are jaw-dropping in an era of stage-managed diplomacy. Well beyond travelogue, the book is also a portrait of a more naive, optimistic nation in the heat of the nuclear age.”

“Fast-paced, delightfully sardonic, and thoroughly enjoyable…It’s a revealing portrait of a treacherous decade when the media—especially nascent television, whose news departments seldom questioned the views of the government that controlled their broadcast licenses—were almost as innocent as they were influential.”

“K Blows Top by Peter Carlson is a hilarious, accomplished account of this epic journey of ‘a stranger in a strange land’ as he puts it, one of the most important and, inadvertently, one of the funniest state visits of all time.”

“Hilarious…due in equal parts to Khrushchev’s outsized provocateur personality and the bizarre and thoroughly American reaction to his visit…In Carlson’s hands the Cold War is a surprisingly laughing matter.”

“The book is consistently informative and funny, but there are episodes that are strangely surreal…a fine example of popular history at its most engaging—anecdotal but informative and written with great feeling for the comedic side of current events.”

“For anyone interested in this remarkable moment in the long history of US–Soviet relations, Carlson’s book is a treat!”

“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.”

“[An] entertaining and informative story about ‘inviting the enemy into our camp.’ Both the humorous and explosive sides of the Russian leader’s personality give narrator Malcolm Hillgartner ample material for his clever impersonation and faux accent. A studied parody of Nixon’s unmistakable muttering chimes in here and there as well. Hillgartner’s appropriate humor and announcer’s voice act like a tour guide to American life and politics during the Cold War of the 1950s.”

“Carlson’s account is extremely well researched and includes interviews with a number of participants, most notably Khrushchev’s son, Sergei. Many of the accounts and memos he quotes are from State Department historical documents. His book is enlivened by many direct quotes from Khrushchev and others. Anyone interested in cultural exchange, international diplomacy and fine writing should enjoy this unique book.”

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