From the book's dust jacket:

The Improbable Triumvirate KENNEDY-KHRUSHCHEV-POPE JOHN An Asterisk to the History of a Hopeful Year, 1962-1963 Norman Cousins

For thirteen months—beginning with the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962 and ending with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963—a new spirit of optimism was at work in the world. The dramatic end of that crisis signaled an upturn in the prospects for peace. Three men came to symbolize these new prospects—President Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, and Pope John.

This book deals with some of the little-known footnotes to the history of that hopeful year, especially as it bears upon the interaction of the three leaders. It is mostly a human-interest story, for it shows what great changes can come about in the world when leaders look beyond ideological dogma and national interest to human interest, and when they are willing to assume political risks in the pursuit of peace.

The book tells of some remarkable exchanges between Pope John and Premier Khrushchev. It was the Pope who took the initiative in establishing direct contacts between the Vatican and the Kremlin. A specific result of this was the release, after years of internment, of two archbishops. Mr. Cousins was chosen as an emissary of the Vatican to negotiate the release. During this time, President Kennedy asked Mr. Cousins to play a role in the preliminary negotiations for an agreement to halt testing of nuclear weapons. The book deals with the role of public opinion in making the nuclear test-ban treaty possible. As an outgrowth of the experiences related here, Mr. Cousins was asked by the president to work on the campaign for ratification of the treaty. This book provides an account of that work.

Norman Cousins is currently editor of World, a new magazine providing global coverage of ideas and the arts, which began publication in June 1972.

A graduate of Columbia University, he became editor of Saturday Review in 1940, a position he held for more than thirty years. He is President of the World Association of World Federalists, which is working for world peace through world law, and Honorary President of World Federalists, U.S.A.

Mr. Cousins has been the recipient of numerous awards given for his contributions to American education and to world peace, including the Peace Medal of the United Nations awarded by U Thant. In 1963, he received the personal medallion of Pope John XXIII for his part in the successful negotiations with Premier Khrushchev leading to the release from prison of Cardinal Josyf Slipyi of the Ukraine and Archbishop J. Beran of Czechoslovakia.

In 1963, Mr. Cousins served as cochairman of the Citizens' Committee for a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, formed at President Kennedy's request to organize public support for the U.S. Senate's ratification of the test-ban treaty. He is the author of many books in which he has written extensively of his ardent interests in education, the environment, and the need for a new approach to world problems based on human interest.

Mr. Cousins and his wife live in New Canaan, Connecticut. They have five daughters, including an adopted daughter from Hiroshima.