The doomsday machine : confessions of a nuclear war planner
Ellsberg, Daniel2017
Book
At the same time former presidential advisor Daniel Ellsberg famously took the top-secret Pentagon Papers, he also took with him a chilling cache of top secret documents related to America's nuclear program in the 1960s. Here for the first time he reveals the contents of those documents, and makes clear their shocking relevance for today. 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. No other insider has written so candidly of that long-classified history, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era. Ellsberg's analysis of recent research on nuclear winter shows that even a "small" nuclear exchange would cause billions of deaths by global nuclear famine. Ellsberg, in the end, offers steps we can take under a new administration to avoid nuclear catastrophe. Framed as a memoir, this gripping exposé reads like a thriller with cloak-and-dagger intrigue, placing Ellsberg back in his natural role as whistle-blower. It is a real-life Dr. Strangelove story, but an ultimately hopeful--and powerfully important--book.
Main title:
The doomsday machine : confessions of a nuclear war planner / Daniel Ellsberg.
Author:
Ellsberg, Daniel, author
Imprint:
New York : Bloomsbury, 2017.©2017
Collation:
420 pages ; 25 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [353]-387) and index.
Contents:
Part I: The Bomb and I. How could I? The making of a nuclear war planner ; Command and control: managing catastrophe ; Delegation: how many fingers on the button? ; Iwakuni: nuclear weapons off the books ; The Pacific Command ; The war plan: reading the JSCP ; Briefing Bundy ; "My" war plan ; Questions for the Joint Chiefs: how many will die? ; Berlin and the missile gap ; A tale of two speeches ; My Cuban missile crisis ; Cuba : the real story -- Part II: The road to doomsday. Bombing cities ; Burning cities ; Killing a nation ; Risking doomsday I: Atmospheric ignition ; Risking doomsday II: The Hell Bomb ; The Strangelove paradox ; First-use threats: using our nuclear weapons ; Dismantling the Doomsday Machine -- Glossary.
ISBN:
9781608196708 (hardback)1608196704 (hardback)
Dewey class:
355.02170973355.0217
Language:
English
Subject:
Ellsberg, DanielNuclear warfare -- Government policy -- United States -- History -- 20th centuryNuclear weapons -- Government policy -- United States -- History -- 20th centuryMilitary planning -- United States -- History -- 20th centuryUnited States -- Military policy -- History -- 20th centuryUnited States -- Officials and employees -- Biography
BRN:
509541
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Melbourne Library | -Society | SOCIETY 355.0217 ELLS | Available |