Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s classic political satire of the nuclear age, has aged well, and the hilarious yet terrifying premise of the film – that a wacky collection of incompetent statesmen and insane warmongers could destroy the world in a fit of pique – may be the most potent reminder we have of the uncertainty of Cold War reality. But a closer examination of what we now know about the film and its era reveals that it is more than a brilliant work of fiction. “In its own loopy way, the movie is a remarkably fact-based and specific guide to some of the oddest, most secretive chapters of the Cold War.”