Khrushchev's trip to America in 1959 was the result of an accidental invitation from President Eisenhower ? one which the egg-shaped Russian dictator enthusiastically accepted. His ensuing odyssey through the capital of capitalism was a surreal, gaff-filled romp through a land of movie stars and rock ?n roll, tailfins and suburbs, missile silos and amusement parks, fallout shelters and duck Ocover drills. Khrushchev wanted to hate the United States, of course, but the hard-drinking peasant found himself repeatedly seduced by Americans and their zany post-War enthusiasm for material comfort. Full of delightful comic episodes and fact-filled insight into one of the more bizarre episodes of the Cold War, K BLOWS TOP will attract a core readership among Cold War afficionados; but the hilarious spectacle of an uneducated world-leader behaving almost exactly like a toddler will also resonate with a wider, non-specialist audience. AUTHOR: Peter Carlson has been a journalist and columnists for the Washington Post for twenty years. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his columns. He is the author of Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood published by W.W. Norton; and with Hunter S. Thompson among others, of The Gospel According to ESPN, a coffee-table book on American sports heroes. SALES ?World leaders behaving badly: topical, funny ? and written by a Pulitzer-nominee ?50th anniversary of Khruschev's trip to the US ?Huge cast of famous characters (Marilyn Monroe, Nixon, Shirley MacLaine?) ?Big PR push for serialisation, features, radio (interest from Start the Week) REVIEWS ?Any work of history whose chapter titles include "It Killed Milton Berle and It Can Kill You Too" and "Chihuahuas For Khrushchev" deserves to be read? This book seems to have been a joy to write; it is certainly a joy to read.' Steve Coll, author of THE BIN LADENS 'Consistently informative and funny?? BOOKLIST, starred review 'utterly hilarious and un-putdown-able story about one of the strangest episodes of the Cold War? Someone absolutely has to make this into a movie. I insist!' Christopher Buckley, author of THANK YOU FOR SMOKING *
