{"product_id":"k-blows-top-a-cold-war-comic-interlude-starring-nikita-khrushchev-americas-most-unlikely-tourist-9781586488468","title":"K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude, Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist","description":"Khrushchev's 1959 trip across America was one of the strangest exercises in international diplomacy ever conducted. Khrushchev told jokes, threw tantrums, sparked a riot in a San Francisco supermarket, wowed the coeds in a home economics class in Iowa, and ogled Shirley MacLaine as she filmed a dance scene in \u003ci\u003eCan-Can\u003c\/i\u003e. He befriended and offended a cast of characters including Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marilyn Monroe. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eK Blows Top\u003c\/i\u003e is a work of history that reads like a Vonnegut novel. This cantankerous communist's road trip took place against the backdrop of the fifties in America, with the shadow of the hydrogen bomb hanging over his visit like the Sword of Damocles. As Khrushchev kept reminding people, he was a hot-tempered man who possessed the power to incinerate America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Carlson\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eK Blows Top\u003c\/i\u003e, which has been optioned into a feature film. For many years, he was a reporter and columnist for the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e. He has also written for Smithsonian magazine, \u003ci\u003eAmerican History\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Rockville, MD.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50492941566226,"sku":"9781586488468","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e75de6f3-6814-4b5b-b0f2-66c600c43908.jpg?v=1730616403","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/k-blows-top-a-cold-war-comic-interlude-starring-nikita-khrushchev-americas-most-unlikely-tourist-9781586488468","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}