I first read the Fate of the Earth as installments in the New Yorker years ago. I remember it as much as anything I ever read. Those installments have been combined into the first part of this book. It describes what would happen during and after a nuclear war. The destruction that would happen during a nuclear war is fairly well known and is horrific. The aftermath is more speculative but no less horrific. The book clearly spells out the risk of a nuclear war causing an extinction event comparable to the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs and 75% of all species 66 million years ago.
Unfortunately, reading it is a slog--hence the deduction of one star--but not because of the horrors it describes. It is filled with elegantly written statements that are both true and meaningless and add nothing. A good example is a quote in another review about how we can only imagine how future generations would feel if they never exist because mankind is exterminated in nuclear war and its aftermath. Schell encourages thinking deeply about our moral obligation to future generations as a way to eventually disarm. He is certainly correct about our moral obligation, but it is unlikely the world will disarm because of it. Such statements are repeated many times. So are constant repeated qualifications that predicting the aftermath is uncertain for lack of experience and the many variables such as how many bombs are detonated. It would work fine to say that once then say here is what could happen.
The book offers no realistic solution to this existential threat, probably because there is no solution other than a mere hope it will never happen. As long as another nation has nuclear weapons we must have them too as a deterrent.
But in the end, the description of a nuclear holocaust has helped reduce the inclination to consider "limited nuclear war" a survivable and workable option. Ronald Reagan changed his views dramatically after watching a TV show depicting a post nuclear world. The descriptions in this book should be read by everyone. Knowing in detail what nuclear holocaust means may be the best thing we can do to avoid it ever happening.
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