Forget all you think you know about the Kennedy years. With narrative flair and sparkling storytelling, acclaimed historian John Boyko explores the crucial period when America and its allies were fighting the Cold War's most treacherous battles, Canadians were trading sovereignty for security, and everyone feared a nuclear holocaust.

At the centre of this story are three leaders. President John F. Kennedy pledged to pay any price to advance his vision for America's defence and needed Canada to step smartly in line. Fighting him at every turn was Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker, an unapologetic nationalist trying to bolster Canada's autonomy. Liberal leader Lester Pearson, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, sought a middle ground.

Boyko employs meticulous research and newly released documents to present shocking revelations. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Canadian warships guarded America's Atlantic coast and Canada suffered a silent coup d'état. Canada was involved in Kennedy's sliding America into Vietnam. Kennedy knew the nuclear missiles he was forcing on Canada would be decoys, there only to draw Soviet nuclear fire. Kennedy's pollster and political adviser travelled to Ottawa under a fake passport to help defeat the Canadian government. And, perhaps most startlingly, if not for Diefenbaker, Kennedy may have survived the bullets in Dallas.

JOHN BOYKO is the author of five previous books, including the bestselling Blood and Daring: How Canada Fought the American Civil War and Forged a Nation, and critically acclaimed Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation. Called by The Globe and Mail "a distinguished scholar of Canadian political history," Boyko has earned degrees from McMaster, Queen's, and Trent universities, is a frequent op-ed contributor to newspapers around the country, and has appeared many times on radio and television discussing historical and current political issues. He is the former Dean of History and now an administrator at Lakefield College School. Boyko lives in Lakefield, Ontario. The author lives in Lakefield, ON.