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Sep 06, 2011 | ISBN 9780307387417 Buy
Aug 24, 2010 | ISBN 9780307593733 Buy
Aug 24, 2010 | 824 Minutes Buy
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Sep 06, 2011 | ISBN 9780307387417
Aug 24, 2010 | ISBN 9780307593733
Aug 24, 2010 | ISBN 9780307736680
824 Minutes
The final volume in Richard Rhodes’s prizewinning history of nuclear weapons offers the first comprehensive narrative of the challenges faced in the post-Cold War age. The past twenty years have transformed our relationship with nuclear weapons drastically. With extraordinary depth of knowledge and understanding, Richard Rhodes makes clear how the five original nuclear powers–Russia, Great Britain, France, China, and especially the United States–have struggled with new realities. He reveals the real reasons George W. Bush chose to fight a second war in Iraq, assesses the emerging threat of nuclear terrorism, and offers advice on how our complicated relationships with North Korea and South Asia should evolve. Finally, he imagines what a post-nuclear world might look like, as only he can.
The culminating volume in Richard Rhodes’s monumental and prizewinning history of nuclear weapons, offering the first comprehensive narrative of the challenges faced in a post–Cold War age.The past twenty years have transformed our relationship with nuclear weapons drastically. With extraordinary depth of knowledge and understanding, Rhodes makes clear how the five original nuclear powers—Russia, Great Britain, France, China, and especially the United States—have struggled with new realities. He shows us how the stage was set for a second tragic war when Iraq secretly destroyed its nuclear infrastructure and reveals the real reasons George W. Bush chose to fight a second war in Iraq. We see how the efforts of U.S. weapons labs laid the groundwork for nuclear consolidation in the former Soviet Union, how and why South Africa secretly built and then destroyed a small nuclear arsenal, and how Jimmy Carter’s private diplomacy prevented another Korean War.We also see how the present day represents a nuclear turning point and what hope exists for our future. Rhodes assesses the emerging threat of nuclear terrorism and offers advice on how our complicated relationships with North Korea and South Asia should evolve. Finally, he imagines what a post-nuclear world might look like, suggesting what might make it possible.Powerful and persuasive, The Twilight of the Bombs is an essential work of contemporary history.
Richard Rhodes is the author or editor of 22 books, including The Twilight of the Bomb, the last volume in a quartet about nuclear history. The first, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, won the Pulitzer Prize, a National Book… More about Richard Rhodes
“No one writes better about nuclear history than Rhodes does, ably combining a scholar’s attention to detail with a novelist’s devotion to character and pacing.” —The Washington Post “Rhodes explains both the science and the culture of the nuclear age. He does so with the wisdom of the historian and the morality of the ages.” —The Boston Globe “Remarkable . . . Subtle . . . brims with intriguing anecdotes . . . Rhodes speaks . . . with great eloquence.” —Los Angeles Times “Exciting . . . Cool and evenhanded . . . Rhodes owns this territory, and there’s a lot of it to cover.”–Bloomberg“[Rhodes] writes with remarkable confidence and clarity about these terrible devices. . . He’s a rare writer who can explain why the short half-life of tritium gas means that we no longer need to worry about suitcase bombs stolen from the old Soviet Union.”–The New York Times Book Review “A triumph of information-gathering, narrative drive and philosophizing . . . Rhodes’s reporting about averting calamity in the former Soviet Union will resonate months and probably years from now.”–The Denver Post “Rhodes’s soaring and swooping eagle eye has noticed features in the political landscape of the last 20 years that most of us have overlooked. Few judgments have the authority and clarity Rhodes can bring to bear as he sorts through the aftermath of the age of the superpowers.”–The Santa Fe New Mexican “Moving . . . Rhodes makes a good case for the optimistic interpretation of this history—up to a point.”–San Francisco Chronicle “The Twilight of the Bombs is an apt conclusion to an epic undertaking . . . At each step Rhodes offers fresh perspective on the historical record.”–The Kansas City Star “Urgent advice from a sage commentator.”–Baton Rouge Advocate
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