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Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
Penguin
January 2013
On Sale: January 5, 2013
640 pages
ISBN: 1594202273
EAN: 9781594202278
Kindle: B00C5R7F8G
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to
uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear
arsenal. A ground-breaking account of accidents,
near-misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological
breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the
dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age:
how do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being
destroyed by them? That question has never been
resolved--and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human
fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave
risk to mankind.
Written with the vibrancy of a
first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves
the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear
missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative
that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent
effort by American scientists, policymakers, and military
officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can’t be stolen,
sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated
inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a
new perspective, offering history from the ground up,
telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders,
maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked
their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of
the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small
farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a
ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead
ever built by the United States.
Drawing on
recently declassified documents and interviews with men who
designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command
and Control takes readers into a terrifying but
fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden
from view. Through the details of a single accident,
Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become
unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences,
and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only
provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious,
gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a
tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening
look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age.
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