Summary

The novel opens with an image of a nuclear bomb. The next page is a quote from Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in which Khrushchev warned against the two of them putting themselves in a position of inevitable war. The next two pages are a double-page image of Kennedy and Khrushchev. Kennedy is quoted as saying the U.S. had sufficient nuclear weapons to blow up Russia multiple times, and Khrushchev saying that Russia would be satisfied with blowing up the United States just once. The next page is a poster advertising a building as a fallout shelter. The next is a newspaper account declaring Camp Springs School as a shelter and another talking about the military buildup in Vietnam. The next two pages show Bert the Turtle as he “ducks and covers” to protect himself...