A coup d’etat in the United States? A visionary pacifist President gets a disarmament treaty ratified, over the military’s opposition, and is about to begin implementing it despite widespread public apprehension and disapproval. Some top military and congressional leaders, led by the charismatic general who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, join forces in taking advantage of the President’s political weakness–but what are they planning, and how far will they go? The general’s aide begins connecting certain ominous clues, suspects the worst, and shares his fears with the President. Then the battle is joined: the President and a small inner circle must not only figure out whether there is a conspiracy but, if there is one, must neutralize it–all before a blow that might fall at any time, all without provoking the conspirators into premature action, and all without falling prey to a paranoia that will itself furnish the pretext for bringing down the President even if there never was any conspiracy. The writing is tight and dramatic. “Seven Days in May” was adapted to the big screen in a 1964 film starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, and again thirty years later in a 1994 made-for-television movie starring Forrest Tucker. Both versions do justice to the novel.( Amazon Customer)
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Timeless Story I first read Knebel’s and Bailey’s Seven Days in May shortly after it was published in 1962. It was an exciting story for a teenage boy, and I avidly read their subsequent political thrillers. The movie starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas appeared in 1964, and was an excellent translation of a great book into a great film. I read the book again in the early 1970s during the Nixon-Watergate constitutional crisis when I was a young officer in the military, and the book was no less…
Well-executed drama for the ear Saw both movies (the 1964 and the 1994 versions), and was interested in getting the book when I ran across the radio play version here.A great listen – well acted, picking different highlights than the movies, and explaining a lot more (because you can’t just SEE what’s happening) and a different feel from a lot of radio drama because of the live audience response.Worth the money and worth the 2 hours to listen.
Excellent cold-war thriller Now that the Iron Curtain has collapsed, we forget what it was like during the Cold War. I remember as a child participating in grade-school air raid drills, where the Civil Defense sirens went off and we went into the hallway and crouched in a protective position away from any windows to protect against a possible atomic bomb explosion.This book, written during that same time period as the movie FailSafe, when Cold War fears were upppermost, so that US citizens were building bomb…