Book description
Each chapter of the How the End Begins deconstructs the dangers we
face. Rosenbaum begins by showing all the ways the post-Cold War order
that tried to impose a set of rules of averting a nuclear mistake has
fallen apart.
In chapter 2, he describes the journey of one Bruce Blair, once a
missile launcher, whose experience inside the nuclear establishment
left him alarmed about its vulnerabilities.
Chapter 3 looks at nuclear war from the Russian side, using the
architect of that nation's early warning system as a focus.
Chapter 4 looks at how the Bush Administration helped pushed the
world closer to a nuclear conflict by rewriting the rules of deterrence.
Chapter 5 describes all the ways the international incidents we have
seen - Georgia, the Israeli raid on Syria, the Iranian moves - are
evidence that some governments have shown a willingness to move closer
to the brink of a conflict involving nuclear weapons.
The rest of the book looks at the broader nuclear issues facing the
world in the 21st century: What is deterrence? Who can claim to have
it? How many nuclear weapons can we live with? Is zero really
possible? In other words: Can we undream the nightmare?
"Is there a scenario in which nuclear
retaliation would be moral? Rosenbaum's answer is a definitive no. Any
reader of this upsetting book will be convinced that he's right."
--Nathaniel Rich, The Daily Beast
Ron Rosenbaum is the bestselling author of
Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars and has
written or edited six other books. His work has appeared in
The New York Times, Harper's, The Atlantic, and
The New Yorker. He writes a column for Slate and lives
in New York City.
