Bernard Brodie and the Foundations of American Nuclear Strategy (Modern War Studies). This item is unavailable.Bernard Brodie and the Foundations of American Nuclear Strategy (Modern War Studies)

Despite recent improvements in East-West relations, security interests of states continue to be shaped by concepts and assumptions about nuclear strategy articulted in the writings of Bernard Brodie. The author provides on examination of Brodie's work, the intellectual climate in which it was expressed, its influence on other strategic thinkers, and its continuing relevance for our changing times. Bernard Brodie (1910-1978) is best known as the leading conceptulizer and proponent of using nuclear weapons to deter aggression, and as an articulate voice in the debate over the role of nuclear weapons. He was an incisive critic and a grand strategist, integrating military and political instruments and goals. He focused especially on the impact of nuclear weapons on Soviet-American relations and on preventing thermonuclear war. In this volume the author analyzes how and why Brodie's understanding of weapons of unparalleled explosive force led him to posit the need for revolutionary strategic thinking in broad-minded analytic method and in the focus upon cities as nuclear targets. He shows the effect Brodie's work had on the intellectual climate in which policy is determined, particulary in his frequent combatting of conventional wisdom. The author moves beyond Brodie's well-known interest in nuclear war prevention to highlight his focus upon coerciveness in war and his important but virtually unknown early work on target selection. He also documents how the revolution in strategic thought did not come full-blown: Brodie frequently shifted his views to take account of intervening changes in weaponry and means of delivery, his interpretation of Soviet motives, the war in Korea, and the Cuban missile crisis. Examining Brodie's writings in connection with opposing points of view, the author evaluates both the substance and the methodology of Brodie's thinking. He disaggregates arguments wherever possible, demonstrating how his method can contribute more widely to progress in national security studies. His evaluation of Brodie's strengths and weaknesses is a contribution to the current debate about the role of nuclear weapons in political and military affairs.

"An excellent and largely objective encapsulation of Brodie."Choice

"Steiners book will be an important text for historians of contemporary strategic thought for some time to come."Arms Control Today

"Steiner has done an enormous service in charting the thinking of possibly the most important American sculptor of images of nuclear conflict. His book represents a valuable resource for any further study of the intellectual dimensions of the politico-military history of the cold war."The International History Review

"This critical review of the strategic thought of Bernard Brodie provides an appropriate and useful focus for a review of strategic thought in general during the post-World War II period. It should be of value to all students of war, whether in the academy or on military or political staffs. Every section contains ideas for the alert reader to think about and discuss."Perspectives on Political Science

"This book is an outstanding contribution to the continuing debate about the nature of national security and the appropriate ways of analyzing war and developing defense policy in the modern world. Steiner not only traces the ideas and influence of one of the most creative strategic thinkers of our time, but also illuminates the intellectual, institutional, and political contexts in which Brodie worked."Peter Paret, coeditor of The Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age

"A significant study that succeeds in tracing the evolution of a very important strategic thinker and his influence on American nuclear strategy."George H. Quester, author of The Future of Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Diplomacy

"I am impressed with the maturity of Steiner's analysis. He empathizes with Brodie while at the same time giving an objective, balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Brodie's thought."Alexander L. George, coauthor of Deterrence in American Foreign Policy