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Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- Narrateur(s): Scott Brick
- Durée: 20 h et 34 min
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
- Narrateur(s): Holter Graham
- Durée: 37 h et 16 min
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Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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A classic book with a weak narrator
- Écrit par Locutus le 2018-09-19
Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
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Arsenals of Folly
- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
- Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
- Narrateur(s): Robertson Dean
- Durée: 14 h et 12 min
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In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan's famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes' detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.
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Richard Rhodes does it again!
- Écrit par HittsMcGee le 2019-04-18
Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
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The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- Auteur(s): David E. Hoffman
- Narrateur(s): Bob Walter
- Durée: 20 h et 46 min
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During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand," a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.
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Exactly as described.
- Écrit par Amazon Customer le 2023-01-14
Auteur(s): David E. Hoffman
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- Auteur(s): Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrateur(s): Pete Larkin
- Durée: 12 h et 8 min
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From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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A must for aviation buffs
- Écrit par BH le 2018-04-25
Auteur(s): Ben R. Rich, Autres
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Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- Auteur(s): Gene Kranz
- Narrateur(s): Danny Campbell
- Durée: 18 h et 14 min
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Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race.
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Wholly worthwhile...in a peripheral sort of way.
- Écrit par Morganizer le 2021-04-26
Auteur(s): Gene Kranz
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Kelly
- More Than My Share of It All
- Auteur(s): Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith, Brig. Gen. Leo P. Geary USAF - ret. - foreword
- Narrateur(s): Johnny Heller
- Durée: 6 h et 6 min
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Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
Auteur(s): Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Autres
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
- 25th Anniversary Edition
- Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
- Narrateur(s): Holter Graham
- Durée: 37 h et 16 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan. Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly - or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity, there was a span of hardly more than 25 years.
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A classic book with a weak narrator
- Écrit par Locutus le 2018-09-19
Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
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Arsenals of Folly
- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
- Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
- Narrateur(s): Robertson Dean
- Durée: 14 h et 12 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan's famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes' detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.
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Richard Rhodes does it again!
- Écrit par HittsMcGee le 2019-04-18
Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
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The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- Auteur(s): David E. Hoffman
- Narrateur(s): Bob Walter
- Durée: 20 h et 46 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand," a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.
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Exactly as described.
- Écrit par Amazon Customer le 2023-01-14
Auteur(s): David E. Hoffman
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- Auteur(s): Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrateur(s): Pete Larkin
- Durée: 12 h et 8 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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A must for aviation buffs
- Écrit par BH le 2018-04-25
Auteur(s): Ben R. Rich, Autres
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Failure Is Not an Option
- Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
- Auteur(s): Gene Kranz
- Narrateur(s): Danny Campbell
- Durée: 18 h et 14 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race.
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Wholly worthwhile...in a peripheral sort of way.
- Écrit par Morganizer le 2021-04-26
Auteur(s): Gene Kranz
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Kelly
- More Than My Share of It All
- Auteur(s): Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith, Brig. Gen. Leo P. Geary USAF - ret. - foreword
- Narrateur(s): Johnny Heller
- Durée: 6 h et 6 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
Auteur(s): Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Autres
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Atomic Accidents
- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
- Auteur(s): James Mahaffey
- Narrateur(s): Tom Weiner
- Durée: 15 h et 54 min
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From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.
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"TRUSHUM" Killed it for me.
- Écrit par Brantz Myers le 2018-02-08
Auteur(s): James Mahaffey
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Carrying the Fire
- An Astronaut's Journeys
- Auteur(s): Michael Collins, Charles A. Lindbergh - foreword
- Narrateur(s): David Colacci
- Durée: 20 h et 17 min
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In Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of the adventure of reaching the moon. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the air force, through his days as a test pilot, to his Apollo 11 spacewalk, presenting an evocative description of the joys of flight as well as a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile Earth from the other side of the moon.
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Very happy with this book
- Écrit par Sean le 2022-09-25
Auteur(s): Michael Collins, Autres
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Truth, Lies, and O-Rings
- Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
- Auteur(s): Allan J. McDonald, James R. Hansen - contributor
- Narrateur(s): Jonathan Yen
- Durée: 26 h et 32 min
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On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center.
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Truth Lies and O-Rings
- Écrit par EntertainmentLover le 2018-08-28
Auteur(s): Allan J. McDonald, Autres
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The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- Auteur(s): Annie Jacobsen
- Narrateur(s): Annie Jacobsen
- Durée: 18 h et 22 min
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Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
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another great listen from Annie Jacobson
- Écrit par TyCB le 2020-07-21
Auteur(s): Annie Jacobsen
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The Twilight of the Bombs
- Recent Challenges, New Dangers, and the Prospects for a World Without Nuclear Weapons
- Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
- Narrateur(s): Robertson Dean
- Durée: 13 h et 43 min
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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 20 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.
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A fitting conclusion to Rhodes' nuclear saga
- Écrit par HittsMcGee le 2019-05-17
Auteur(s): Richard Rhodes
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Midnight in Chernobyl
- Auteur(s): Adam Higginbotham
- Narrateur(s): Jacques Roy
- Durée: 13 h et 55 min
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April 25, 1986 in Chernobyl was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.
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Hair raising
- Écrit par Dmitry le 2019-05-15
Auteur(s): Adam Higginbotham
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Chernobyl
- The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe
- Auteur(s): Serhii Plokhy
- Narrateur(s): Ralph Lister
- Durée: 14 h et 52 min
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On the morning of April 26, 1986, Europe witnessed the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine. Dozens died of radiation poisoning, fallout contaminated half the continent, and thousands fell ill. In Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy draws on new sources to tell the dramatic stories of the firefighters, scientists, and soldiers who heroically extinguished the nuclear inferno. He lays bare the flaws of the Soviet nuclear industry....
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Very Detailed Account
- Écrit par Books by BJ Thompson ~ Weaving Words on Either Side of Cocktail Hour le 2021-05-17
Auteur(s): Serhii Plokhy
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Spycraft
- The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
- Auteur(s): Robert Wallace, Henry Robert Schelsinger
- Narrateur(s): David Drummond
- Durée: 19 h et 50 min
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Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to give listeners an unprecedented look at the devices and operations deemed "inappropriate for public disclosure" by the CIA just two years ago.
Auteur(s): Robert Wallace, Autres
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The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
- Narrateur(s): Simon Winchester
- Durée: 11 h et 46 min
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The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
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Best Listen of my Audible career to date
- Écrit par Ed Chinaski le 2021-01-19
Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
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Apollo 13
- Auteur(s): Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger
- Narrateur(s): Fred Sanders
- Durée: 16 h et 15 min
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In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 (previously published as Lost Moon) tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe.
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A good story.
- Écrit par Gary W le 2022-02-22
Auteur(s): Jim Lovell, Autres
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Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- Auteur(s): Eric Berger
- Narrateur(s): Rob Shapiro
- Durée: 9 h et 3 min
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The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
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Best book about SpaceX
- Écrit par Utilisateur anonyme le 2021-04-15
Auteur(s): Eric Berger
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Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- Auteur(s): Annie Jacobsen
- Narrateur(s): Annie Jacobsen
- Durée: 17 h et 30 min
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For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
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phenomenal writing
- Écrit par TyCB le 2019-10-16
Auteur(s): Annie Jacobsen
Description
A myth-shattering exposé of America's nuclear weapons.
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking 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. While the harms of global warming increasingly dominate the news, the equally dangerous yet more immediate threat of nuclear weapons has been largely forgotten.
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 50 years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policy makers, 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 people 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.
Ce que les critiques en disent
A New York Times Notable Book of 2013
"A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the US...fascinating." (Time magazine)
"Schlosser's book reads like a thriller, but it's masterfully even-handed, well researched, and well organised. Either he's a natural genius at integrating massive amounts of complex information, or he worked like a dog to write this book. You wouldn't think the prospect of nuclear apocalypse would make for a reading treat, but in Schlosser's hands it does." Lev Grossman, Jonathan Franzen, The Guardian)
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Ce que les auditeurs disent de Command and Control
Moyenne des évaluations de clientsÉvaluations – Cliquez sur les onglets pour changer la source des évaluations.
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- grant
- 2020-11-27
Excellent
This book was reccomended by Dan Carlin
I thoroughly enjoyed both the story and the narrator.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-05-04
Very thorough and eye-opening
Given recent global events, the information in this book is very relevant. I walked away from it amazed and a little terrified at how close the US came to nuclear accidents and war several times. If the most powerful country on earth had this many publicly acknowledged issues with its nuclear weapons, imagine what countries with newer and less competent nuclear weapons programs have gone through in secret.
I was impressed with the narrator's performance as well. Despite the amount of complicated details and records covered in this book, his reading kept me focused and invested.
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- Bryan McAllister
- 2021-06-07
I Can't Believe I Didn't Know Any Of This
An extremely thorough and informative reveal of what the government was hiding while I was growing up unaware. I can't believe how often and how close we came to extinction.
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- Iain Hutchinson
- 2021-03-16
Excellent historical review
An excellent review of a time in history that altho not long ago is being rapidly forgotten.
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- ken l.
- 2020-01-21
Intriguing Book On Nuclear Weapons
Sometimes it makes you shudder when you learn of such destructive force wielded by man, and the narrator lets you know it. Some sections were a bit boring, and the narrator's voice can sound monotone, but his voice lends nicely to the strange morbidity of talking about weapons of mass destruction.
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- Utilisateur anonyme
- 2019-08-28
Worth a listen, good overview of the cold war.
Gives an informative yet casual, character driven, complete overview of the cold war nuclear arms race from the American point of view. Goes mostly in chronological order and explains in detail the events that shaped history. Explains the reasoning behind every nuclear policy from a mostly unbiased point of view.
This book is accessible to most people and very important to read. I highly recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in history, international politics, war and peace.
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- J
- 2019-01-29
Must Read for any Cold War enthusist
Great combination of history and stories. Really captures the fears of the cold war eara
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- Strazimiri
- 2018-09-21
Abso-lutely Facinating
This is hands down one of the best books I've experienced in a while. The narration is good, very clearly read and what a bombshell story (hehe). I already know I will re-read or re-listen to this again. There are not that many pieces of literature that I have experienced that have value as great as this one. I love books but I haven't had the time available to find gems like this one lately, don't miss it. #Audible1
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- A reader
- 2014-02-16
A miracle that we escaped the Cold War alive....
Command and Control was excellent, if occasionally chilling, listening. The book takes the form of a thriller - flashing back between an accident at a missile silo in Arkansas in 1980, and the history of the control of American nuclear weapons. The thriller becomes a bit of a horror show as Schlosser shows how often disaster was narrowly averted, and the potential consequences of a catastrophic accident. There are many mind-boggling facts along the way: the Davy Crockett nuclear anti-tank rocket had a blast radius as large as its range, the military occasionally classified things so highly the president couldn't see them, and there were many occasions where a nuclear war nearly happened.
The evolution of the Damascus Accident is especially well-written, as is the story of the evolution of nuclear strategy and command. As one reviewer in the LA Times pointed out, Schlosser is decidedly liberal, but the heroes of the book (such as they are) are McNamara and Reagan, who actually tame the nuclear beast, at least for a while. Similarly, there are great explanations of the development of the atomic bomb, and the technical details involved.
There are only a few weaknesses. First, the emphasis on bomb safety and the final parts of the Damascus Accident drag a bit, making the last third of the book somewhat less pointed and novel than the terrific first part. Second, the book seems to lose steam after Reagan, barely giving any time to the post-Cold War situation, or to other countries. While this isn't necessarily bad, it means that we spend most of the book in increasingly high levels of concern, and are left without either a lot of discussion over how to reach a safer world, or a clear sense of what the nuclear system looks like today.
In any case, this is a great read for fans of nonfiction and history, as it covers a huge amount of ground. And the final sentence is absolutely chilling and revelatory.
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- Jeff
- 2014-03-11
SUPERB ON SO MANY LEVELS
This is a great read but it will scare the shyt out of you. Nuclear weapons + human error = utter catastrophe. I dont know about you but I always assumed things as dangerous as nuclear weapons were handled with enormous over cautious care. To learn that the people in charge of policy and those that actually handle them are no better than those in your life that you dread lending your car to is a crap your pants revelation.
This is a very well written book that you will prefer to remember as fiction but is of course non fiction. Scott Brick is an utterly perfect match as narrator making this medicine taste great. The revelatory nature of these facts should put this book front and center of our news media and zeitgeist, but thats not going to happen because were all kept amused with bread and circus and no news media will touch it. If your nerves are already at their limit with the state of things and your plate is overflowing, you may want to pass on the revelations contained here. If you can take it- its a drop jaw fascinating listen
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- S. Mersereau
- 2013-10-14
Stunning
What did you love best about Command and Control?
The story brings together the history, science and military facets of nuclear weapons, by building on an actual Titan ICBM accident.
What did you like best about this story?
Having served in the Strategic Air Command and kept B-52s aloft with live nukes, the stories were a revelation - so many accidents and near catastrophes - that one can only conclude we were saved from ourselves.
Any additional comments?
It is hard to appreciate the overwhelming threat that nuclear weapons posed in the 60s and 70s, and the relief at the end of the cold war.
But then, the weapons haven't gone away...
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- Ellen
- 2014-02-04
HOLY F*CK! HOW HAVE WE SURVIVED THIS LONG?
What made the experience of listening to Command and Control the most enjoyable?
It was jaw dropping and terrifying. Stephen King should quit and start writing for Sesame Street because this truth is so much more frightening than any fiction. I often listen to books when I go to bed, and dear god, the dreams I had when I fell asleep when this book was running! But it is also encouraging, in that somebody must have our backs, because it is a flipping miracle when haven't been blow to kingdom come a dozen times over.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Characters? This was nonfiction. I wish it was fiction.
Rescue workers who head back to save people even when doing so is likely to kill them. All those guys! How can you not be moved? In the big karmic book, it offsets those douchebag politicians who are too cheap/stupid to budget safety measures and the military narcissists who think atomic weapons are a good idea. But karma doesn't necessarily save our ridiculous ape species from extincting ourselves.
What about Scott Brick’s performance did you like?
He was clear, had good pacing, and almost matter of fact.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The rescue workers. See above "favorite characters.
Any additional comments?
Read this or listen to it. While we are all sweating it, what with the economic collapse and all the gun violence and the poisoned water and compromised food supply and fracking and what all, you owe it to yourself to learn about the ways we seem to be determined to hasten our own extermination.
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- Allen
- 2013-11-14
Holy Crap!!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Great story, great narration. The subject of atomic energy/weaponry does require some pretty indepth explanation so at times it can be boresome while leading up to the meat of the matter.
How we haven't managed to blow ourselves to Kingdom Come is a nuclear accident in itself. Drops, planecrashes, fires, it's not like we haven't tried or actually dared a multiple megaton warhead to detonate in our own backyard.
Scary stuff, I couldn't put it down.
Read this book if you're even remotely intrigued by atomic weaponry, their handling and management throughout the course of the cold war.
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- Randall Key
- 2014-03-10
Bombs Away!
This book is not a bomb! It is a book that I could not put down. I was a Nuclear weapons specialist in SAC at Ellsworth and believe everything written to be true. I was actually involved and knew of some "incidents" that went unreported as well. In fact, my 28MMS Commander was called to come out at 3am after we had an electrical fire on the tug pulling 4 nukes after an alert. We put the fire out and no harm done....fire department only blocks away were too afraid to come to the site and help....for 45 minutes. But the Colonel never said good job or thanks for saving the base.....he said "You two need a haircut....and keep this under your hat"! That kind of arrogance and non appreciation for what we had just done caused me to throw up my hands, turn myself in for drugs.....and get out of the USAF. Had drug testing been done, I'm sure 90% of my squadron would still be in jail.....the cops, too! In training another team dropped a bomb a few inches to its stand. We also had a tritium leak and an armed bomb on the flight line. The American people don't know the half. This book tells the best.
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- Michael J Canning
- 2014-07-22
Very interesting. Somewhat hard to follow.
Would you listen to Command and Control again? Why?
Command and Control tells two stories concurrently, alternating back and forth, from one to the other. The first story is the story of the Damascus incident, in which a Titan nuclear missile came close to exploding in Arkansas due to a series of oversights which, as the author documents, are not nearly as rare as the public might suppose. The second story is the history of nuclear weapons themselves - their use, development, design, and testing, as well as their technical limitations (or lack thereof) and the strategic calculations that drove their development and deployment during the Cold War.
The first narrative, which recounts the Damascus incident, is illuminating and entertaining, but at times it also feels overly drawn-out and confusing. This is largely due to the way its telling is broken up over the course of the book. This structure might work better in print, but I found it challenging in audio format. The second narrative - where the author traces the history of nuclear weapons broadly, from the Manhattan Project to the present, is where the book really excels. It is first-rate. I would listen this portion of the again, for sure, and recommend it to others interested in the subject without any reservation.
On the whole, a very good book.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Command and Control?
The discussion of thermonuclear weapons, as opposed to pure fission bombs, and how the former fundamentally altered the strategic calculus about the use of nuclear weapon in war. In the modern era, we do not really distinguish between the awesome but comprehensible power of fission bombs, and the truly cataclysmic and unthinkable force of thermonuclear weapons, but the distinction was actually a major turning point in the way these weapons were viewed by political and military leaders. A second highlight was the author's excellent history of the U.S. Strategic Air Command, and its rivalry with the other military services and the (civilian) U.S. Atomic Energy Commission for primacy in the control U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities.
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- Victor
- 2014-02-03
Excellent book on Cold War history
Would you consider the audio edition of Command and Control to be better than the print version?
This book is an excellent telling of the story of the Damascus accident intermixed with a very accurate telling of almost all of the key moments in Cold War history. There are also shocking revelation about how lax nuclear security, safety and command and control were in the US in the early days of the Cold War.
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
The telling of the Greensboro incident.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes. Extremely well written in a manner that really holds your attention.
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- Marcus Vorwaller
- 2014-04-15
Wow. I had no idea.
This was the first thing I’ve read that goes into any detail on the situation of the nuclear situation in the US and the world. Wow. I wasn’t convinced I wanted to know so much about missiles and warheads and what it takes to keep them secret and secure, but after I started realizing the scope of what could have gone wrong during the heights of the Cold War the information quickly went from being academic to something much more real.
The number of accidents involving nuclear warheads is surprisingly high. The internal politics revolving around how these weapons should be used are maddening. The scope of the destruction that would have ensued had the Cold War master plan ever been carried out is literally insane. The fact that so many nations to this day have the power to cause that type of destruction makes the relatively stable state of the world seem tenuous to say the least.
Command and Conquer starts off slow, but quickly becomes an engrossing freakshow of the insanity of the Cold War and the truly awful power of the superpowers
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- Tim
- 2014-01-04
Rookie Mistakes on Nukes
I like to ask my friends on what they are reading to be current with the times. There are so many good and bad titles out there that it's always a hit or a miss. A few of my friends suggested that I should pickup "Command and Control." I haven't read anything from Eric Schlosser since Fast Food Nation and I haven't read any documentary or informational books in a while.
So, this book was easy to purchase because I enjoy this kind of genre. I always learn something new and don't feel that I'm wasting time on some made up story.
All I have to say is, if the United States couldn't handle their nuclear weapons, I wonder how other countries are failing to handle their's and how many accidents that they are having. It just seems like the United States just decided to build bombs and without any safety procedures.
Even to this day, there are ongoing studies on how safe we are from manufacturing bombs. There are too many rookie mistakes. There is no backup plan like in the movies to disarm a nuke once fire. Damascus was just one accident that we know of and there are many more that we have yet to reveal.
Maybe building life threatening bombs are just too complicated for all man kind.
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