"Awaiting Armageddon provides the first in-depth look at this crisis as it simmered outside of government offices, where ordinary Americans realized their government was unprepared to protect itself or its citizens from the dangers of nuclear war." "In her examination of the public response to the missile crisis, the author reveals cracks in the veneer of American confidence in the early years of the space age and demonstrates how the fears generated by Cold War culture blinded many Americans to the dangers of nuclear war until it was almost too late."--Jacket.