Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race » (Reprint)

Richard Rhodes is the author or editor of twentytwo books, including The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which won a Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, which was one of three finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in History. He has received numerous fellowships for research and writing, including grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard and MIT and a host and correspondent for documentaries on public television's Frontline and American Experience series. An affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, he lectures frequently to audiences in the United States and abroad.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes delivers a riveting account of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War.

In the Reagan-Gorbachev era, the United States and the Soviet Union came within minutes of nuclear war, until Gorbachev boldly launched a campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons, setting the stage for the 1986 Reykjavik summit and the incredible events that followed. In this thrilling, authoritative narrative, Richard Rhodes draws on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants and a wealth of new documentation to unravel the compelling, shocking story behind this monumental time in human history—its beginnings, its nearly chilling consequences, and its effects on global politics today.

The New York Times - Martin Walker

Rhodes focuses on three topics: Gorbachev and the dramatic psychological impact of the Chernobyl nuclear accident; the hardline cold warriors who gathered around the Reagan White House; and the pivotal encounter at the Reykjavik summit of 1986, when Gorbachev and Reagan seriously discussed getting rid of all nuclear weapons…It is a familiar tale, but Rhodes tells it well, and his artful narrative contains some real gems.

A Rigid System
To the Chernobyl Sarcophagus     3
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears     27
A Hierarchy of Vassals and Chiefs     46
Apes on a Treadmill
"The Bomber Will Always Get Through" (I)     69
"The Bomber Will Always Get Through" (II)     84
The Sorcerer's Apprentices (I)     102
The Sorcerer's Apprentices (II)     118
Decapitation     138
Rehearsing Armageddon     154
The Warheads Will Always Get Through     168
Common Security
Going Around in Circles     187
Naysayers Hard at Work     212
Looking Over the Horizon     236
The Sovereign Right to Choose     271
The Little Suitcase     290
Notes     311
Bibliography     343
Acknowledgments     359
Permissions Acknowledgments     361
Index     363