edit: that should be "and after", not "after after" in the title.
I have often read or been told about various stories in which equipment malfunction, escalation of disagreements, or other causes have nearly lead to the potentially devastating use of nuclear weapons. People such as Stanislav Petrov and Vasili Arkhipov are mentioned as men who single-handedly prevented the destruction of the world. When seeking more information, I came accross this paper non-exaustively documenting such indicidents; they listed a total of 13 since 1962.
It has always seemed unlikely to me that the world came as close to nuclear war in these cases as it is often represented, especially given that it happened many times but ultimately nukes were never so much as launched, but many knowledgable people seem to think otherwise. Is there any consensus among historians, or are there any prominant interpretations?
Also, is there any recommended reading for a better understanding of the topic?
I find your statement that nukes were "never so much as launched" really weird. Nuclear weapons don't require much more than launching to accomplish their goal. Once launched they have been used. That is to say, nukes don't require big troop movements, logistics, or immediate planning in the same way conventional warfare is waged. Therefore the saber rattling and ongoing diplomatic battles as played out in the press couldn't play out the way I think you'd imagine. However, if you were to look at the discussions that occurred in negotiating, writing, ratifying and implementing nuclear treaties (such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Limited Test Ban Treaty, SALT, START, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and SORT) you'd see that arguments over safety, verification, storage, targeting, warhead limits - all those were discussed and hotly.
I don't know if that helps answer your question but I think you will have a hard time finding anyone who says the nuclear threat was overstated or that nuclear accidents weren't taken terribly seriously. Guys like Bruce Blair wrote extensively about the risk of accidental nuclear war or escalation. And the Union of Concerned Scientists has their doomsday clock which illustrates humanity's nearness to nuclear annihilation (midnight=boom).
Sorry if this didn't help. I just love nukes.