I just finished reading 15 Minutes by Douglas Keeney. Its a very worthwhile read for anyone interested in the USAF, SAC, or the Cold War in general. The book does not have a narrative so to speak, it recoutns a number of interrelated events from the 1940s to the 1970s involving SAC and American nuclear policy during the period. Many of these are fascinating but for me the most enlightening was the story of the Texas Towers. These were a series of air defense radar stations mounted on towers akin to oil rigs stationed in the Atlantic. The amount of effort that went into designing, deploying and maintaining these installations is staggering, and all to gain a few precious minutes of additional warning of a Soviet attack. Unfortunately, the story of these towers ends in tragedy, and the link below gives a good account:
http://www.thetexastowers.com/