Command and Control - Softcover

Schlosser, Eric

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846141494 ISBN 13: 9781846141492

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2013

Synopsis

Paperback. Pub Date :2013-09-17 Language: English Publisher:. Allen Lane From famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser. author of Fast Food Nation. comes Command and Control a ground-breaking account of the management of nuclear weapons 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 Schlosser reveals that this question has never been resolved. and while other headlines dominate the news. nuclear weapons still pose a grave risk to mankind. At the heart of Command and Control lies the story of an accident at a missile silo in rural Arkansas. where a handful of men struggled to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerf...

About this title

Review

A work with the multi-layered density of an ambitiously conceived novel (John Lloyd Financial Times)

Command and Control is how non-fiction should be written ... By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in 1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller (New Yorker)

The strength of Schlosser's writing derives from his ability to carry a wealth of startling detail on a confident narrative path (Ed Pilkington Guardian)

Disquieting but riveting ... fascinating ... Schlosser's readers (and he deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need many more of it in the years to come (Walter Russell Mead New York Times)

Reads like a thriller ... A fascinating read and a gripping one (Justin Webb)

[Praise for Eric Schlosser]:

He tells us things we already suspect to be true, but don't dare think about

(Daily Telegraph)

Eric Schlosser may be the Upton Sinclair for this age ... He has a flair for dazzling scene-setting and an arsenal of startling facts (Los Angeles Times)

Schlosser's reportage is as good as it gets (GQ)

My vote is for Eric Schlosser's Command and Control. Do you really want to read about the thermonuclear warheads that are still aimed at the city where you live? Do you really need to know about the appalling security issues that have dogged nuclear weapons in the 70 years since their invention? Yes, you do. 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 (Jonathan Franzen Guardian, Books of the Year)

About the Author

Eric Schlosser is the author of the bestsellers Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness.

Edition details

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1846141494
• ISBN 13: 9781846141492
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 656