
The Bomb and America's Missile Age
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tom Perkins
About this listen
The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), designed to quickly deliver thermonuclear weapons to distant targets, was the central weapons system of the Cold War. ICBMs also carried the first astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. More than a generation later, we are still living with the political, technological, and scientific effects of the space race, while nuclear-armed ICBMs remain on alert and in the headlines around the world.
In The Bomb and America's Missile Age, Christopher Gainor explores the US Air Force's (USAF) decision, in March 1954, to build the Atlas, America's first ICBM. Beginning with the story of the guided missiles that were created before and during World War II, Gainor describes how the early Soviet and American rocket programs evolved over the course of the following decade. He argues that the USAF was wrongly criticized for unduly delaying the start of its ICBM program, endangering national security, and causing America embarrassment when a Soviet ICBM successfully put Sputnik into orbit ahead of any American satellite.
©2018 Johns Hopkins University Press (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
-
The Nuclear Spies
- America's Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin
- By: Vince Houghton
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong?
-
-
Misleading title
- By peter on 12-20-20
By: Vince Houghton
-
The 300
- The Inside Story of the Missile Defenders Guarding America Against Nuclear Attack
- By: Daniel Wasserbly
- Narrated by: Neal Bledsoe
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Comprised of just 300 soldiers, the United States Army’s 100th Missile Defense Brigade and 49th Missile Defense Battalion utilize sophisticated and cutting-edge technology to monitor the skies and seas surrounding the country and shield 300 million Americans against any potential nuclear threat. Named for the number of Spartan warriors who defended Greece at the Battle of Thermopylae, these vigilant individuals endure rigorous, always-evolving regimens to maintain peak efficiency in the event of an actual nuclear strike.
-
-
This audiobook needs an editor
- By Jason Draper on 10-13-22
By: Daniel Wasserbly
-
Fire and Movement
- The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage - all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth.
-
-
stop doing accents on quotes
- By Eric on 02-01-15
By: Peter Hart
-
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage
- The Declassified Stories of Cold War Reconnaissance Flights and the Men Who Flew Them
- By: Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
- Narrated by: Wayne M. Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage is a history of the Cold War overflights of the Soviet Union, its allies, and the People's Republic of China, based on extensive interviews with dozens of pilots who flew these dangerous missions. Through extensive research of existing literature on the overflights and interviews conducted by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, this audiobook reveals the story of the entire overflight program through the eyes of the pilots and crew who flew the planes.
-
-
Worst Narration Ever
- By Nathan Hoag on 04-09-21
-
Dark Waters
- An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub
- By: Lee Vyborny, Don Davis
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the NR-1 is told against the tense background of the Cold War and peopled with such rich characters as the acerbic Admiral Hyman Rickover, ocean scientist Robert Ballard (who found the Titanic), the designers and builders who faced almost impossible tasks to give life to the ship, the unique officers and sailors who took the little boat down into depths on covert missions, and the families who waited for them on shore, unaware that there would be no escape if the boat ran into trouble.
-
-
One of the best books on the subject. Simply put.
- By Boom Depleter on 12-27-18
By: Lee Vyborny, and others
-
Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
- By A reader on 02-16-14
By: Eric Schlosser
-
The Nuclear Spies
- America's Atomic Intelligence Operation against Hitler and Stalin
- By: Vince Houghton
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong?
-
-
Misleading title
- By peter on 12-20-20
By: Vince Houghton
-
The 300
- The Inside Story of the Missile Defenders Guarding America Against Nuclear Attack
- By: Daniel Wasserbly
- Narrated by: Neal Bledsoe
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Comprised of just 300 soldiers, the United States Army’s 100th Missile Defense Brigade and 49th Missile Defense Battalion utilize sophisticated and cutting-edge technology to monitor the skies and seas surrounding the country and shield 300 million Americans against any potential nuclear threat. Named for the number of Spartan warriors who defended Greece at the Battle of Thermopylae, these vigilant individuals endure rigorous, always-evolving regimens to maintain peak efficiency in the event of an actual nuclear strike.
-
-
This audiobook needs an editor
- By Jason Draper on 10-13-22
By: Daniel Wasserbly
-
Fire and Movement
- The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage - all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth.
-
-
stop doing accents on quotes
- By Eric on 02-01-15
By: Peter Hart
-
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage
- The Declassified Stories of Cold War Reconnaissance Flights and the Men Who Flew Them
- By: Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
- Narrated by: Wayne M. Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage is a history of the Cold War overflights of the Soviet Union, its allies, and the People's Republic of China, based on extensive interviews with dozens of pilots who flew these dangerous missions. Through extensive research of existing literature on the overflights and interviews conducted by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, this audiobook reveals the story of the entire overflight program through the eyes of the pilots and crew who flew the planes.
-
-
Worst Narration Ever
- By Nathan Hoag on 04-09-21
-
Dark Waters
- An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Sub
- By: Lee Vyborny, Don Davis
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of the NR-1 is told against the tense background of the Cold War and peopled with such rich characters as the acerbic Admiral Hyman Rickover, ocean scientist Robert Ballard (who found the Titanic), the designers and builders who faced almost impossible tasks to give life to the ship, the unique officers and sailors who took the little boat down into depths on covert missions, and the families who waited for them on shore, unaware that there would be no escape if the boat ran into trouble.
-
-
One of the best books on the subject. Simply put.
- By Boom Depleter on 12-27-18
By: Lee Vyborny, and others
-
Conflict
- The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine
- By: David Petraeus, Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: David Petraeus, Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two leading authorities—an acclaimed historian and the outstanding battlefield commander and strategist of our time—collaborate on a landmark examination of war since 1945. Conflict is both a sweeping history of the evolution of warfare up to Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine, and a penetrating analysis of what we must learn from the past—and anticipate in the future—in order to navigate an increasingly perilous world.
-
-
The Story of My Life
- By Nice guy on 03-06-24
By: David Petraeus, and others
-
The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
-
-
Scientia Est Potentia/Knowledge is Power
- By Cynthia on 10-08-15
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Accessory to War
- The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military
- By: Avis Lang, Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Courtney B. Vance, Neil deGrasse Tyson - introduction
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating foray into the centuries-old relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and writer-researcher Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. "The overlap is strong, and the knowledge flows in both directions," say the authors, because astrophysicists and military planners care about many of the same things: multi-spectral detection, ranging, tracking, imaging, high ground, nuclear fusion, and access to space. Tyson and Lang call it a "curiously complicit" alliance.
-
-
Inspiring, educational, patriotic.
- By Kevin on 09-17-18
By: Avis Lang, and others
-
America's Secret War
- Inside the Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies
- By: George Friedman
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dubbed by Barron's as "The Shadow CIA", Stratfor, George Friedman's global intelligence company, has provided analysis to Fortune 500 companies, news outlets, and even the U.S. government. Now Friedman delivers the geopolitical story that the mainstream media has been unable to uncover, the startling truth behind America's foreign policy and war effort in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond.
-
-
Outstanding book, answers so many questions.
- By Steve on 01-02-05
By: George Friedman
-
The Big Stick
- The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force
- By: Eliot A. Cohen
- Narrated by: Bill Thatcher
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Speak softly and carry a big stick", Theodore Roosevelt famously said in 1901 when the United States was emerging as a great power. It was the right sentiment, perhaps, in an age of imperial rivalry. But today many Americans doubt the utility of their global military presence, thinking it outdated, unnecessary, or even dangerous. In The Big Stick, Eliot A. Cohen - a scholar and practitioner of international relations - disagrees.
-
-
Turn off the news, listen to this
- By Michael on 02-02-17
By: Eliot A. Cohen
-
Dismantling the Empire
- America’s Last Best Hope
- By: Chalmers Johnson
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of the best-selling Blowback Trilogy reflects on America's waning power in a masterful collection of essays. In his prophetic book Blowback, published before 9/11, Chalmers Johnson warned that our secret operations in Iraq and elsewhere around the globe would exact a price at home. Now, in a brilliant series of essays written over the last three years, Johnson measures that price and the resulting dangers America faces.
-
-
Unimpressed
- By Logical Paradox on 08-19-14
By: Chalmers Johnson
-
The War Conspiracy
- JFK, 9/11, and the Deep Politics of War
- By: Peter Dale Scott
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A remarkable analysis linking the assassination of JFK and 9/11, and how both events were used to influence war policy. Peter Dale Scott examines the many ways in which war policy has been driven by “accidents” and other events in the field, in some cases despite moves toward peace that were directed by presidents. This book explores the “deep politics” that exerts a profound but too-little-understood effect on national policy outside the control of traditional democratic processes.
-
-
data dump on every rabbit hole
- By Shawn R. Veltheim on 12-20-18
By: Peter Dale Scott
-
The Spoils of War
- Power, Profit and the American War Machine
- By: Andrew Cockburn
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the last decades, America has gone to war as supposed defenders of democracy. The War on Terror was waged to protect the West from the dangers of Islamists. US soldiers are stationed in more than 800 locations across the world to act as the righteous arbiters of the rule of law. In this book, Andrew Cockburn brilliantly dissects the intentions behind Washington's martial appetites.
-
-
Truth
- By Raymond L. Daniels on 03-17-22
By: Andrew Cockburn
-
Nemesis
- The Last Days of the American Republic
- By: Chalmers Johnson
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing comparisons to empires past, Johnson explores in vivid detail the likely consequences of US dependence on a permanent war economy, and what it will mean when the globe's sole "hyperpower" is no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders - and becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all time. In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that the crisis of a financial breakdown could ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
-
-
The Book Bill O'Rielly Doesn't Want You To Read!
- By Joe on 04-04-07
By: Chalmers Johnson
-
JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated
- By: Douglas Horne
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since researchers and commentators began questioning the conclusions of the Warren Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the response has been: Why would the US national-security establishment - that is, the military and the CIA - kill Kennedy? As Douglas P. Horne details in this audiobook, JFK's War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated, the answer is because Kennedy's ideas about foreign policy collided with those of the US national-security establishment during the height of the Cold War.
-
-
FINALLY THE TRUTH!
- By Helen Williamson on 05-28-16
By: Douglas Horne
-
The Shadow War
- Inside Russia's and China's Secret Operations to Defeat America
- By: Jim Sciutto
- Narrated by: Jim Sciutto
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
CNN’s chief national security correspondent reveals the invisible fronts of 21st-century warfare and identifies the ongoing battles being waged - often without the public’s full knowledge - from disinformation campaigns to advanced satellite weaponry.
-
-
Informative and interesting, but incomplete.
- By LuluTheAxolotl on 05-25-19
By: Jim Sciutto
-
The Doomsday Machine
- By: Daniel Ellsberg
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them.
-
-
Fascinating Insider Story
- By Terry Masters on 12-07-17
By: Daniel Ellsberg
What listeners say about The Bomb and America's Missile Age
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul S.
- 05-03-23
Politics over Technology
A well written book but too much focus on the politics and not enough on the building and testing of the Atlas.
a very nice insight into the DOD early days.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Milford Cubicle
- 02-25-22
a bit dry even for the topic
I expected more technical info and more about the people and personalities involved but this read much more like a series of academic essays. Very dry and ended abruptly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful