On September 1, 1983, a Soviet fighter plane shot down a South Korean commercial airliner, KAL 007, killing all 269 persons aboard. Why did the jet stray hundreds of miles off course and fly for hours over Soviet territory, including sensitive nuclear and submarine installations? And why did the Soviets decide that that plane had to be brought down? These are the major questions this book addresses. It is the first book-length exploration of all the...