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The Bomb

Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War

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The Bomb

Written by: Fred Kaplan
Narrated by: Edward Bauer
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About this listen

 From the author of the classic The Wizards of Armageddon and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes the definitive history of American policy on nuclear war—and several presidents’ actions in nuclear crises—from Truman to Trump.

Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories—based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents—of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.

Kaplan’s historical research and deep reporting will stand as the permanent record of politics, the military history of nuclear weapons, and the struggles within the Department of Defense and the Pentagon strategies. Discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaplan presents the unthinkable in terms of mass destruction and demonstrates how the nuclear war reality will not go away, regardless of the dire consequences. International Relations Military Nuclear War Politics & Government Public Policy Weapons & Warfare Military Policy War American Foreign Policy Vietnam War Russia Soviet Union Imperial Japan Middle East Socialism Cold War Nuclear Weapons
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This book will only be appreciated by history buffs or military buffs as most of the book contains a lot of achcrinoms. I did have a change of attitude about certain ex presidents of United States and prominent individuals. I always thought JFK was a good man. However, my overall feelings towards the United States have even dropped more. As a Canadian, I wish I didn't have to live next door. With Trump in power, I don't go south anymore. This book covers a very very difficult topic. Nuclear warfare. The USA is the only country to have used the Atomic bomb twice in aggression. This book is about US nuclear warfare policy. Very frightening. I had to laugh at the end of the book as Audible says that they hoped that I enjoyed the book. I don't think anyone could enjoy this book but....it is extremely informative. The writing is not that enjoyable however as it is very deep with so much information. This book should be read over several days because of the data saturation. Having a history background, I remember everything post Nixon. Cheers!

A very tedious book to listen too!

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Learned a lot of interesting stuff about US nuclear policy in the last 70 years. Seems very well researched even as regards relatively current events. Only downside is that the narrator tries to punctuate every few lines with unneeded suspense and it comes off as campy and distracting.

Interesting Contents, Not Great Narrator

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I found the book tedious. At times it seemed to be just a recitation of trivia. I didn't care for the narrator's performance either. I did the return it, but was tempted.

Bogged down in details

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