& FREE Returns

FREE delivery: Friday, Sep 10 Details

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

$$26.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE delivery: Sep 13 - 16

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Better World Books: North

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

$26.25
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Book Depository US

$22.47
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Ambis Enterprises

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Michael I. Karpin

The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means for the World Paperback – January 9, 2007

by Michael Karpin (Author)

31 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$15.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$10.89

$27.99

$3.95

Paperback

"Please retry"

$26.95

$22.25

$9.11

As Iran continues to develop its nuclear program and explicitly denounces Israel, Michael Karpin's The Bomb in the Basement provides important context for the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

After Israel won its war of independence in 1948, founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion realized that his country faced the possibility of having to fight Arab nations again in the future. He embraced the idea of developing a nuclear capability and put a young lieutenant, Shimon Peres, in charge of the project. This was the beginning of Israel's quest for nuclear capability, a project that could not have happened without the cooperation of the French. In The Bomb in the Basement, journalist Michael Karpin gives us the most complete account of how Israel became the Middle East's only nuclear power and how its status as an officially unacknowledged nuclear nation affects the politics of that volatile region.

Karpin's research includes exclusive interviews that provide new insights into the key figures behind the program (notably a harsh rivalry between Peres and Isser Harel, the first head of Mossad). He explains how different U.S. administrations have dealt with Israel's nuclear status, from Eisenhower's disapproval to Johnson's open support. And he shows how the key to Israel's nuclear capability has been its policy of "nuclear ambiguity."

A compelling account of a complicated history, The Bomb in the Basement raises provocative questions about how Israel's nuclear arsenal may affect not only its own future, but the future of the entire Middle East.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

January 9, 2007
Dimensions

6.13 x 1 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0743265955
ISBN-13

978-0743265959
See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Avner Cohen
9
Hardcover
$57.99
+ $3.59 shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Avner Cohen
17
Hardcover
$113.54
& Free Shipping
Seymour M. Hersh
81
Hardcover
72 offers from $2.58
Roger J Mattson
29
Paperback
$14.95
Get it as soon as Friday, Sep 10
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Avner Cohen
9
Hardcover
$57.99
+ $3.59 shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Avner Cohen
17
Hardcover
$113.54
& Free Shipping

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Provides the most comprehensive and illuminating account of Israel's path and its policy of 'strategic ambiguity' about nuclear weapons."

-- Jacob Heilbrunn, The Washington Monthly

"Entertaining.... Karpin tells this intriguing story through pithy accounts of the major events and profiles of the key actors."

-- George Perkovich, The Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Michael Karpin has been an Israeli television and radio news reporter, anchor, and foreign bureau chief in Bonn and Moscow. More recently he has produced television documentaries, including one that was the genesis of this book. He lives in Jerusalem.

Start reading The Bomb in the Basement on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Annotated edition (January 9, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0743265955
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0743265959
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,613,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,585 in Nuclear Weapons & Warfare History (Books)
- #3,306 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)
- #4,878 in Middle Eastern Politics

Customer Reviews:
31 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		65%
4 star		23%
3 star		3%
2 star		3%
1 star		6%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Dimitrios

An extremely interesting story which is very well told

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2008

Verified Purchase

The first that the author clarifies is that the book has been heavily cencored by the Israeli military, thus do not expect to find in it startling revelations about Israel's nuclear program. What you will find though is a very good account of the whole effort and its protagonists, from 1948 to the present (albeit the story somehow stops in the `80s). The reader will find also many similarities between the Israelis' efforts to conceal their project and the Iranians' efforts today and will come to the conclusion that when we have to do with a national effort to aquire the ultimate weapons of mass destruction we must it's rather naïve to expect those responsible to tell the truth or confess their aims. The chapters which deal with the US - Israeli relations and how they were strained by the race for the "bomb" are among the best. This is surely a very nice account on the subject of the Israeli "secret" nuclear arsenal and it is surely more readable than A. Cohen's book "Israel and the Bomb".

One person found this helpful

Helpful

g. edward coey

This is the key to the JFK assassination.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Provides the reason for the Mossad's role in the JFK assassination.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

BernardZ

Best on this subject

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2006

Verified Purchase

This writers has made a good effect to find out his facts.

I have read many books on this subject. Most book on this subject, even by Israeli have a tendancy to concentrate totally on the US and Israel relationships such as Avner's "Israel and the bomb" and almost ignore local Israeli and French policies.

This book however does make an attempt to discuss the actually bomb construction including the relationship with France, that was so important in getting it built. What struck me almost immediately is how cheap was the Israeli nuclear program! Many 100 of millions US dollars and several thousand people might be a massive project but compared to other nuclear programs, it does seems incredibly cheap. Still I would have liked to have seen more about the nuts and bolts of how Israel actually built the bomb.

Whether the US could have stopped the project as the writer states, I think is unlikely, considering that they had little to do with its creation nor did they know for certain about it until the Israeli bomb was well established. Without the US though Israel would have probably have a public nuclear defence policy.

The writer also provides a fairly good discussion at the end of what Israel achieved by its bomb program and the reasons for the Israeli policy of ambiguilty.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

RAM930

If we build it they will leave us in peace?

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2009

Verified Purchase

As WWII came to close the world was left to confront what happened to the vast majority of Jewish population of central Europe. As result of the holocaust (and the rest of the world's failure to prevent it) the Jewish wanted to have there own land and vowed to never let the holocaust happen again.

There were waves of Jewish illegal immigrants to Palestine. Once the Jewish population reached a critical mass the international community paved the way for the modern Israeli state. This new state needed the ultimate weapon to detour would be invaders. There was a nuclear program before there was a state. The hope was the bomb would be "in the basement" as defensive weapon.

The Arab and North African countries (among others) took offense to the Jewish state. To increase the insult the Jews created an industrialized democracy without the benefit of petro-dollars. Over the years Jews living other Middle Eastern countries became hard so the migration to Israel increased. With the concentration of the Jews in Israel the Arabs had one place to focus their hatred (the US not withstanding).

The premise is forwarded that the bomb in the basement protected Israel during the 1973 war on the assumption that Sadat knew of the bomb and simply wanted the Sinai back in the hands of Egypt. Somehow Sadat knows about the bomb but Assiad in Syria doesn't? If you know they have the bomb then how can you be sure they won't use on you in the heat of battle? Why was there no effort on the part of Egypt to negate the nuclear threat of Israel? Why have the bomb the in the basement if you are the only one that knows it is there?

Lets assume that everyone who would wish Israel harm after 1973 knows they have the bomb, do they let them live in peace or do they just change their tactics? Now we have the diplomatic games such as land for peace and the ever in and out tide terror attacks. Does anyone really expect the Arab nations will allow Jewish state to live in peace? The bomb may have allowed Israel to exist for its first 60 years but what of the next 60? Will Iran have the bomb later this year? What country or group will be next join the nuclear club? Israel is rumored to have over 150 nuclear weapons some of which could be deployed in submarines. If Israel has put nuclear ordinance on submarines then the bomb has already left the basement. As long as there is an Israeli state, that state will always have to be vigilant in protecting its people from hostile forces committed to its destruction.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Thomas J. Chavez

Good read.

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

A good read that seems a little loose on some facts, but well worth it.

Helpful

Ruth B. Goldston

Must Read in the Quest to Understand Israel and the Bomb. Ari Shavit's book is also critical.

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

Lots of inside baseball about Israeli politics, but some very interesting tidbits. He doesn't think the Vela flash was a nuclear test. He does think Teller told the Israelis lots of secrets. Personally, if I had a nuclear arsenal based on Teller's advice, it would not help me sleep at night. He had a few brilliant ideas and many off-the-wall ones.

Helpful

Tony Lesce

Don't waste your time.

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

Too repetitious. Very slow reading.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

John

Five Stars