Customer Reviews

Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers: The Passive Defence of the Western World During the Cold War (Pen & Sword Military Classics)

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nick McCamley has done a good job at covering the the extensive network of passive defense sites in the UK. This is a difficult subject that the author has obviously spent quite a long time researching and documenting. McCamley should have stopped with the UK.

McCamley's treatment of North America lacks the thoroughness that his chapters on the UK show. The first part of the book attempts to cover the bunkers in the US and Canada. While he covers the Texas Towers in the middle of the ocean, he fails to even mention the RCAF bunker at North Bay in his chapter on Canada.

Additionally, the author's explanation of the causes of the Cold War and the effects are sophomoric at best. He attempts to summarize the complex political, economic, military, historical, and philosophical forces up in trite blame America explanations. He should have kept to his area of expertise.

The book shows a sloppy preparation by the publisher. For example, on the rear dust cover, it has a picture of a Titan II ICBM labeled as a "Peacemaker." The Peacemaker was the Convair B-36 bomber. Either the publisher was ignorant or they were mistaken and confused a "Peacekeeper" ICBM with a Titan II. There is no excuse for this kind of error, especially on the dust jacket. It can only lead you question the fact checking that the publisher did through the rest of the volume. The editing has typos, such as B-39 instead of B-29, and the book is choppy. Chapters seem to have been written independently and for different places than they were eventually put in the book.

I recommend this work as a starting point for those who want to know about the bunker system in the UK. If you can see past the short comings mentioned above, this is a good attempt at a difficult subject.

Mr. McCamley has certainly jumped right in to the world of bunkers, but frankly, this book is much better as a general reference book than it is as a good read. McCamley could have used the services of a good editor as the book is disjointed and contains a number of snide comments concerning the Cold War. Certainly one need not agree with Herman Kahn, but reality dictates that nuclear calculus is a bleak and callous field. McCamley doesn't seem to understand that, and continually editorializes, offering uneducated commentary and his feelings instead of clear, concise analysis.

The book begins with a brief overview of American and Canadian defense preparations during the Cold War, but spends too much time on actual dollar amounts and radar sites that were, for the most part, not hardened at all--they weren't bunkers.

He only briefly mentions American nuclear missile bunkers, and focuses on the large ones: Cheyenne Mountain, Mt. Weather, the Greenbriar, Mt. Pony, and Raven Rock. Again, he seems more interested in sneering at the people that built them and their likely effectiveness than giving any real insight to their reason for existence.

The rest of the book is very nearly just a catalog of the rather small bunkers throughout the UK, which are relatively similar to each other. There is a brief description of the Carrier Warning System that would have been used for warning the UK populace, but again this is glossed over.

As others have mentioned, the book could have used some fact-checking. While plenty of the errors are glaring, one has to wonder how many other things are wrong when it comes to more obscure facts.

Overall, I would suggest this book as a brief intro to American and Canadian Cold War defense systems and a catalogue of bunkers in the United Kingdom. Those looking for more will be disappointed.

This maybe a good book on UK bunkers of which there are many listed and detailed. US information contains many errors in the first edition. Example: Mount Pony Currency Vault for "North" of the Mississippi, should be "East" (the Mississippi flows North to South). The book is also full of the author anti-commentary, rather than descriptive analysis of the preparations. Does however have a map of Raven Rock which is rare to find.

this is a very good book and read , i recommend it as it is chock full of information , but it mostly only covers the buildings of cold war england , which it didnt mention in the editorial review , though there is a bit about norrad and sage and some early american cold war projects in the biginning.i did expect some more indepth pictures of some of the sites which is why i only gave it a 4 (with more pictures i would have given it a 5) overall it is a recommended read and an excelent addition to a post ww2 library.

This book is an excellent addition for the library of anyone interested in cold war facilities, radar and communication systems. There are some inconsistencies but overall a good reference. Lots of good photos and floorplans. Hopefully, those locations not noted in this book will be examined in a future book.