Showing titles in Nuclear Warfare

The justification for the atomic bomb was simple: it would defeat Hitler and end the Second World War faster, saving lives. The reality was different. Fallout dismantles the conventional story of why the atom bomb was built. Peter Watson has found documents showing that long before the Allied bomb was operational, it was clear that Germany had no atomic weapons of its own and was not likely to. The British knew this, but didn't share their knowledge with the Americans, who in turn deceived the British about the extent to which the Soviets had penetrated their plans for the bomb.

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was the most perilous event in history, when mankind faced a looming nuclear collision between the United States and Soviet Union. During those weeks, the world gazed into the abyss of potential annihilation. Max Hastings’s graphic new history tells the story from the viewpoints of national leaders, Russian officers, Cuban peasants, American pilots and British disarmers.

An Insider’s Gripping Account Of The Reshaping Of America’s Nuclear Arsenal Following The Cold War. . . General Butler played a leading role in reducing and reshaping America’s nuclear forces, weapons stockpile and target plan as the Cold War was winding down. Concerned about the loss of momentum in this historic opportunity following his retirement, and the departure from office of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, General Butler continued his efforts to reduce the dangers posed by the residual arsenals and plans. His highly publicized global campaign was both ...

From the acclaimed author of The Nobel Prize comes this fascinating portrait of four of the greatest minds in the history of science and the impossible turning point they faced. As World War II wound down, and it became increasingly clear that the Allies would emerge victorious, Albert Einstein invited three close friends - all titans of contemporary science and philosophy - to his home at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey, to discuss what they loved best: science and philosophy.

Prepare for the unthinkable with "Nuclear Crash Survival" by Dr. James J. Archer. This ultimate guide equips you with essential survival skills and knowledge to not only survive but thrive amidst nuclear disasters and other 21st-century catastrophes. From understanding the mechanics of nuclear explosions to implementing comprehensive preparation plans, this indispensable manual provides vital information for navigating the aftermath of an atomic bomb or nuclear attack.

Das Hörbuch zum Kino-Highlight im Sommer 2023. J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), der "Vater der Atombombe", zählt zu den schillerndsten Figuren der jüngeren Zeitgeschichte. Für ihre glänzende Biographie des "amerikanischen Prometheus" erhielten der Journalist Kai Bird und der Historiker Martin J. Sherwin den Pulitzer-Preis. Exemplarisch lassen sie das Drama eines Forschers lebendig werden, der sich zwischen Erkenntnisdrang und ethischer Verantwortung entscheiden muss.

During the 1950s, the big fear was nuclear war. From the Soviet Union's perspective, having a communist stronghold so close to the American border was a dream come true. By the early 1960s, there was a strong undercurrent of tension between the Americans and the Soviets. Aside from the disastrous loss of life and dignity at the Bay of Pigs, something else happened. The line was firmly drawn in the sand. The world was on the brink of nuclear war.

My Journey at the Nuclear Brink is a continuation of William J. Perry's efforts to keep the world safe from a nuclear catastrophe. It tells the story of his coming of age in the nuclear era, his role in trying to shape and contain it, and how his thinking has changed about the threat these weapons pose. In a remarkable career, Perry has dealt firsthand with the changing nuclear threat.

After the detente's sudden and abrupt end in the late 1970s, owing to the planned deployment of Pershing-IIs and the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union; it was time for the West to strike back under a defiant Ronald Reagan, who vowed to take-on the Soviet overmatch over the West in conventional forces as well as nuclear weapons. The subsequent, massive arms build-up in the U.S. and the advent of a reformist Tsar, in form of Gorbachev, brought a U-Turn in the Soviet approach as the strategic focus shifted across both sides as Reagan outlined his focus of securing Americans from the ...

In Leveraging Latency, Tristan A. Volpe argues that having greater capacity to build weaponry doesn't translate to greater coercive advantage. Volpe finds that there is a trade-off between threatening proliferation and promising nuclear restraint. States need just enough bomb-making capacity to threaten proliferation, but not so much that it becomes too difficult for them to offer nonproliferation assurances. The boundaries of this sweet spot align with the capacity to produce the fissile material at the heart of an atomic weapon.

How did America choose the targets for the atomic bomb? What made Hiroshima preferable over Kyoto or Tokyo? Critical to the mission to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a series of meetings set up in mid-1945 and comprising America’s most powerful military, political and scientific chiefs. The committeemen would decide where and how the first nuclear weapons would be used in anger.

The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program: The History and Legacy of the USSR’s Efforts to Build the Atomic Bomb examines the Soviets’ race to reach the ultimate goal during and after World War II, and how they went about their objectives. You will learn about Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons program like never before.

Jon Hunner’s concise account of Oppenheimer’s life and the emergence of an Atomic West distills a vast literature for students and general listeners. In this brisk, engaging biography, the author recounts how Oppenheimer helped locate the atomic weapons research lab at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and helped establish leading physics departments at the University of California–Berkeley and Caltech.

Based on actual events spanning forty years, this story is about the relentless struggle of a family’s search for freedom, the Great Seven Fidel Castro’s inner circle, and an epic adventure driven by a passionate love relationship set in pre- and post-Revolutionary Cuba. The love story is the main impetus of this chronicle. Pepe, the only survivor of the inner circle to escape several assassination attempts, is forced to leave his family and his fiancée (Alicia) in Cuba. Alicia, who is carrying his unborn child, conceals her pregnancy to ensure Pepe’s immediate departure to safety.

Internationally renowned political commentator Noam Chomsky examines America's pursuit and exercise of power in a post-9/11 world. Noam Chomsky is the world's foremost intellectual activist. Over the last half century, no one has done more to question the great global powers who govern our lives, forensically scrutinizing policies and actions, calling our politicians, institutions and media to account. The culmination of years of work, Who Rules the World? is Chomsky's definitive intellectual investigation into the major issues of our times.

In Nuclear Folly, award-winning Historian Serhii Plokhy tells the riveting story of those weeks, tracing the tortuous decision-making and calculated brinkmanship of John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and of their advisors and commanders on the ground. More often than not, Plokhy argues, the Americans and Soviets simply misread each other, operating under mutual distrust, second-guesses and false information. Despite all of this, nuclear disaster was avoided thanks to one very human reason: fear.

The Cold War is one of the furthest-reaching and longest-lasting conflicts in modern history. It spanned the globe - from Greece to China, Hungary to Cuba - and lasted for almost half a century. It has shaped political relations to this day, drawing new physical and ideological boundaries between East and West. Bridget Kendall explores the Cold War through the eyes of those who experienced it first-hand.

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?

The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 changed the nature of war forever. The awesome power of the atomic blast and its deadly fallout meant that nowhere was safe: every town, village, street and home in Britain fell under the nuclear shadow, and the threat of annihilation coloured every aspect of ordinary life for the next forty years. As the media reported on the inevitability of approaching conflict with the Soviet Union, the British people were told to prepare for the coming apocalypse.

America's Nuclear Wastelands presents an expert, yet straightforward overview of this complex topic, including nuclear weapons history and contamination issues. The author, a government consultant with a long career in Pacific Northwest nuclear waste issues, also explores the current institutional and political environment, demonstrating the critical role of public participation for past and future generations.