My brief recommended reading list for a nuclear crisis, in order:

1. The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
2. Hiroshima, by John Henessy
3. One Minute to Midnight, by Michael Dobbs
4. Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow
5. Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War, by Susan Southard

My also-brief recommended reading list for North Korea, in no particular order:

• Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick
• Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden
• The Aquariums of Pyongyang, by Kang Chol-hwan and Pierre Rigoulot