RaveThe NationThe British historian and filmmaker Taylor Downing’s new book...is the most readable version to date of an episode that holds lessons for today ... Downing’s book makes the most compelling case yet that the Soviet reaction to Able Archer was extraordinary ... The eyewitnesses...give striking accounts ... The World at the Brink will not be the last book on this topic. It cannot prove what Soviet leaders in Moscow said and did over those four days in November. But it does deliver the most complete story to date, and it points the way toward further investigation.