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How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Ron Rosenbaum
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Book Description

March 1, 2011
The president loses control of fifty nukes for nearly an hour. Russian nuclear bombers almost bump wingtips with American fighter jets over the Pacific coast. North Korea detonates nuclear weapons underground. Iran’s nuclear shroud is penetrated by a computer worm. Al-Qaeda goes on the hunt for Pakistan’s bomb, and Israelis debate the merit of a preemptive nuclear strike. Treaties are signed, but thousands of nuclear weapons are still on hair-trigger alert.

This is how the end begins.

In this startling new book, bestselling author Ron Rosenbaum gives us a wake-up call about this new age of peril and delivers a provocative analysis of how close—and how often—the world has come to nuclear annihilation and why we are once again on the brink.

Rosenbaum tracks down key characters in our new nuclear drama and probes deeply into their war game strategies, fears, and moral agonies. He travels to Omaha’s underground nuclear command center, goes deep into the missile silo complexes beneath the Great Plains, and holds in his hands a set of nuclear launch keys.

Along the way, Rosenbaum confronts the missile men as well as the general at the very top of our nation’s nuclear command system with tough questions about the terrifying assumptions underlying it. He reveals disturbing flaws in our nuclear launch control system, suggests remedies for them, shows how the old Cold War system of bipolar deterrence has become dangerously unstable, and examines the new movement for nuclear abolition.

Having explored the depths of Hitler’s evil and the intense emotion of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Rosenbaum now has produced a powerful, urgently needed work that challenges us: Can we undream our nightmare?


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How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III + 15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation + The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rosenbaum (The Shakespeare Wars), an investigative reporter and Slate columnist, examines the potential for and consequences of nuclear conflict in this sobering, well-argued study. Drawing on decades of study in the field, the author points to a new world that will feature multiple nuclear powers that pose a threat for "touching off a regional nuclear war that could escalate to global scale." Nuclear weapons in the hands of such unstable regimes as Pakistan, North Korea, or Iran is not Rosenbaum's only concern. He worries about Russia's "new bellicosity" and its shoring up and modernization of its nuclear arsenal. Moreover, he argues that the Obama administration's new START treaty preserves a dangerous status quo that leaves in place a "rickety" nuclear command and control system with a "one percent per year" risk of failure. After examining and reluctantly dismissing the prospects for nuclear disarmament, the author concludes with a stark warning: "It's all about luck now. I'm a pessimist." In clear, crisp language, Rosenbaum not only vividly details his personal odyssey "to map out the terra incognita... of the new nuclear landscape," but also challenges the rest of us to confront the gathering storm. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

It�s time to rethink the unthinkable, says Rosenbaum. Impelled by his advocacy to abolish nuclear weapons, he interviewed former and current military officials, academic strategists, and philosophers, who ponder the reliability of nuclear command and control and contingencies that contemplate using nuclear weapons. Providing readers summaries of the cold war�s nuclear close calls, Rosenbaum quizzes defenders and critics of nuclear deterrence. He is naturally sympathetic to arguments that deterrence is an unstable mind game destined to fail. How it might takes Rosenbaum into scenarios involving a country regularly assailed by threats of annihilation, Israel. What if, despite Israel�s atomic arsenal, Iranian menaces eventuate in a nuclear attack (which Rosenbaum pessimistically predicts). Rosenbaum asks several interlocutors if Israeli retaliation that would kill millions of innocents could be ethically justified. Shifting the problem from seminar abstraction to air-raid reality, Rosenbaum discusses war risks run by Israel�s acts of preemption, as in its 2007 destruction of a Syrian nuclear reactor. With the bomb proliferating, Rosenbaum is an alarming herald of current and possibly future events. --Gilbert Taylor

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 1, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416594213
  • ASIN: B005CDTVM8
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

When I read the author is a Slate columnist, I realized why the book is so bad. Jim L  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
At the end, the writer of this book has not presented a credible alternative to MAD. BernardZ  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
HOW THE END BEGINS describes the very real threat that nuclear weapons pose. Alter Wiener  |  2 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 48 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I expected March 9, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is long on supposition, conjecture, and theory (as well as a heavy-handed dose of personal morality), and short on facts and the type of stories and details I was looking for. To the extent that stories and examples were given, they were oversold.
I respect the author's opinion, but I think it is poorly defended and subject to considerable question.

In addition, the book digresses way too far into subjects of religion and philosophy.

Finally, and I hate to say this part the most, the book is kind of boring. The prose is (again) heavy-handed as well as long-winded. I found myself skipping ahead, which is something I never do.

I did manage to finish the book, but I was left with a sense of buyer's remorse.

If you describe yourself as a "zeroer", you will find much to your liking. Otherwise, you will probably find little to change your mind.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Basically an internal monologue May 23, 2011
Format:Hardcover
This book strikes me as a great New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly article that was streched into a book with less than optimal results. You get some really chilling information and assessments, which are unfortunately wrapped around Rosenbaum basically debating morality with himself. There's a great deal missing here - it's a shame, because it is such a compelling topic, but it isn't done justice here.
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20 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Terminally scary March 3, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I hope Ron Rosenbaum donates his brain to science. I suspect it's an extra-large. But the difference between him and your garden-variety genius is that Rosenbaum's intellect is impassioned through and through. And he manages to pull those same emotions out of the reader as he parses the greatest question of our time: whether we are, by basic design, self-destructive. Taking on the big topics is Rosenbaum's beat: the existence of evil in his book "Explaining Hitler," and the miracle of genius in his book on Shakespeare. These are not dry exegeses; they are not merely researched but fully experienced by the author as he, for example, travels to a nuclear command center in Omaha or meets with key industry characters. He identifies the humans who hold the keys to our annihilation. And he scares us silly. This book is a warning, a Cassandra cry, and a must-read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Liberal Alert!
While there were some warnings that this book isn't a full "how" things would go down and more of an opinion piece, it turned out to be a liberal hit job on nuclear... Read more
Published 4 days ago by ralphie wiggum
4.0 out of 5 stars Ron Rosenbaum has masterfully apprised the naked truth of our new,...
The Cold War was a tense and emotionally frenzied period for the United States and, moreover, the whole of humankind. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Shelby S. Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
This book can be hard to find. We got a used copy but it was in great shape. Pleased with how quickly it came.
Published 4 months ago by PianoMom
3.0 out of 5 stars ITS A LITTLE SCARY.....
more than a little scary when you read this and think just how close we were (and are) to a world wide nuc. meltdown and the nut-bags that have the control. Read more
Published 4 months ago by michael
2.0 out of 5 stars Reasonably informative, but Left bias
This book contains much useful information and is well-written overall, however the reader who is familiar with critical thinking and logical argumentation may find this author's... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dd Cushing
1.0 out of 5 stars OMG... Such a Terrible Book
I traded books with a friend. I gave him "Blood on the Moon" and he gave me this piece of tripe. I read three chapters and ended it there. What a terrible, awful book. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jim L
2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Incomplete
Instead of an analytical assessment of current military and political risk, this well-written piece is more like a 200 page editorial, big on hyperbole and short on balanced... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Virginian
1.0 out of 5 stars I think this book is dishonest
The basic problem with nuclear weapons is that they exist. You can build them with 1940s technology, if you want an intercontinental ballistic missile, you can build that with... Read more
Published 13 months ago by BernardZ
1.0 out of 5 stars Not so great
Not so great. I do not recommend this book. Numerous better options exist for covering this subject. Disappointing coverage of an important topic.
Published 15 months ago by MRHWillcox
5.0 out of 5 stars A wake- up warning on the danger of nuclear war
This book is a wake- up call to mankind about the danger of nuclear war. Rosenbaum points out that when the Soviet Union fell in 1991 this was taken to be the end not only of the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Shalom Freedman
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