Synopses & Reviews
The United States is the only country to have dropped the atomic bomb. Since the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, every U.S. president has threatened nuclear war. This concise history shows how the U.S. has used nuclear weapons to bolster its imperial ambitions. Leading nuclear specialist and peace campaigner Joseph Gerson explains why atomic weapons were first built and used -- and how the U.S. uses them today to preserve its global empire. Gerson reveals how and why the U.S. made more than twenty threats of nuclear attack during the Cold War -- against Russia, China, Vietnam, and the Middle East. He shows how such theats continued under Presidents Bush and Clinton, and George W. Bush. The book concludes with an appeal for nuclear weapons abolition and an overview of the history of the anti-nuclear movement. Drawing from a wide range of sources, this fascinating and timely account shows how the U.S. has used nuclear weapons to dominate the world.
Review
'As Americans, we need to face up to our own reliance on nuclear intimidation. This is an important book for Americans of all political stripes to read.' --Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire "At a time when nuclear weapons are increasingly in the political spotlight, this book is essential reading ... Joseph Gerson has provided a work of the utmost importance: a key to understanding - and challenging - US global domination and its nuclear core." --Kate Hudson, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament "Brilliant. I have not read a more important book in many years. Gerson has uncovered the radioactive vein in our secret foreign policy. ... Gerson's work helps us understand why the likelihood of nuclear war is greater now than before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A terrific book." --Daniel Ellsberg, former senior Pentagon official and co-author of The Pentagon Papers
Synopsis
A concise history of how the US has used nuclear weapons to dominate the world.
Synopsis
Shows how unmanned systems are changing not simply how wars are fought, but the meaning of conflict itself.
About the Author
Dr. Joseph Gerson is Director of American Friends Service Committee's Peace and Economic Security Program in New England. A public intellectual and leading figure in the U.S. peace movement, his work focuses on U.S. hegemony and resistance to it, focusing on the Middle East, Asia, and nuclear weapons. He helped launch the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Freeze and Post-9-11 peace movements and works closely with peace movements in Asia and Europe. He has taught at Holy Cross and Regis Colleges and at Tufts University. His previous books include: The Sun Never Sets: Confronting the Network of U.S. Foreign Military Bases and With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion and Moral Imagination.
Table of Contents
1. Deadly Connections: Empire and Nuclear Weapons
2. First Nuclear Terrorism - Hiroshima and Nagasaki
3. Post War Asia - Targeting Korea and China
4. The Cuban Missile Crisis - Prestige, Credibility, and Power.
5. Vietnam: Failures of Nuclear Diplomacy
6. The Middle East: Protecting "The Prize
7. Nukes and the New World Order - What We Say Goes - Part I
8. "Seven Minutes to Midnight" - What We Say Goes - Part II
9. Abolition or Annihilation
Notes
Bibliography
Index