Wednesday, October 23, 2013
[Book Review] Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
Steve reviews COMMAND AND CONTROL: NUCLEAR WEAPONS, THE DAMASCUS ACCIDENT, AND THE ILLUSION OF SAFETY by Eric Schlosser (2013)
I can recall the MX Missile, Star Wars and the rhetoric of the Reagan Administration. I also remember watching the television movie The Day After--and being scared to death of the threat of nuclear war. What I didn’t understand, until I read Eric Schlosser’s Command and Control, is that the greatest nuclear threat to the United States was not from the Soviet Union.
Utilizing declassified documents, Schlosser paints a chaotic picture of the US nuclear stockpile and its handlers. A number of accidents, design flaws, and disastrous near-misses woven into the narrative leave the reader wondering how we made it through 50 years without a major nuclear disaster on US soil. Compounding these issues was military resistance to safety measures and a “use them or lose them” mentality.
Utilizing declassified documents, Schlosser paints a chaotic picture of the US nuclear stockpile and its handlers. A number of accidents, design flaws, and disastrous near-misses woven into the narrative leave the reader wondering how we made it through 50 years without a major nuclear disaster on US soil. Compounding these issues was military resistance to safety measures and a “use them or lose them” mentality.
Command and Control is an excellent read for Cold War buffs, environmentalists, and peace-nicks.
Steven Shackelford, South Branch
Labels: History, Nonfiction, Reviews by Steve Shackelford
[permalink] posted by Memphis Reads : 9:00 AM
