Arsenals of folly : the making of the nuclear arms race / Richard Rhodes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rhodes, Richard, 1937-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nuclear weapons.

Arms race.

Physical Description:

386 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.

Summary:

The story of the postwar superpower arms race, climaxing during the Reagan-Gorbachev decade. Drawing on a wealth of new documentation, Rhodes reveals how the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s led Soviet leader Andropov to conclude that Reagan must be preparing for a nuclear war. In 1983, when NATO staged a large series of field exercises, the Soviets came very close to launching a defensive first strike. Then Reagan launched the arms-reduction campaign of his second presidential term and set the stage for his 1986 summit with Gorbachev in Reykjavik. Rhodes also reveals the early influence of neoconservatives, demonstrating how the manipulation of government and public opinion with fake intelligence and threat inflation, which the administration of George W. Bush has used to justify current policies, were developed and applied in the Reagan era and even before.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Part 1 A Rigid System

1 To the Chernobyl Sarcophagus 3

2 Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears 27

3 A Hierarchy of Vassals and Chiefs 46

Part 2 Apes on a Treadmill

4 "The Bomber Will Always Get Through" (I) 69

5 "The Bomber Will Always Get Through" (II) 84

6 The Sorcerer's Apprentices (I) 102

7 The Sorcerer's Apprentices (II) 118

8 Decapitation 138

9 Rehearsing Armageddon 154

10 The Warheads Will Always Get Through 168

Part 3 Common Security

11 Going Around in Circles 187

12 Naysayers Hard at Work 212

13 Looking Over the Horizon 236

14 The Sovereign Right to Choose 271

15 The Little Suitcase 290.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [343]-357) and index.

ISBN:

9780375414138

0375414134

OCLC:

137325021