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 The
Spread of Nuclear Weapons
This books puts together two colliding authors on whether the
proliferation of nuclear weapons is a good idea or not. Waltz, one fo
the premier figures of realpolitik, argues (brilliantly, even though I
disagree with him) that proliferation is a good idea. Sagan argues there
are too many organizational risks in the proliferation system.The two
present their arguments, and then respond to each other's argument. It
is a fascinating argument, one that can be discussed in 1000 pages, but
the authors do a tremendous job of synthesizing it and pointing out the
major strengths and weaknesses of each other's argument. In today's
world, where we are willing to go to war to prevent proliferation, it is
useful to take a step back and really understand what the main problems
arising by proliferation are.
 US
Strategic and Defensive Missile Systems
For 40 years following the end of World War II, the Western democratic
governments and the Eastern Bloc Communist powers were locked in the
ideological, political, and economic struggle of the Cold War. The
United States and the Soviet Union developed missile systems capable of
delivering conventional and nuclear explosives against enemy massed
bomber formations in the air, and of delivering retaliatory nuclear
payloads against ground targets located on distant continents. The
missile systems played both a defensive role, and a potential offensive
role, which was parlayed to the public as deterrence against attack by
the rival bloc. This title provides a detailed overview of the
fixed-launch-site strategic missile systems of the United States.
 DEFCON-2
The authors of this fine book have provided us with an insightful and
comprehensive look at how the world was nearly subjected to the
catastrophic events of a global thermonuclear war.
Rather than simply providing us with a simple chronology or details of
the individual events making up the crisis, Normal Polmar & John Gresham
have combined to provide us with a solid explanatory volume of how this
crisis nearly devolved into something akin to the end of the world as it
was then known.
Providing details based on interviews from participants in the crisis
and on recently declassified documents, Polmar & Gresham provide us with
details not before seen, but critical in understanding the crisis.
The book does not simply explain the crisis from either the American or
the Soviet side, but instead looks at it from three different viewpoints
- the Americans, the Soviets, and the Cubans (primarily Fidel Castro).
This makes for an enlightening & very useful study of this critical
period in Cold War history.
I especially enjoyed the final chapter of the book - the lessons learned
from Operation Anadyr (the Soviet code name for the installation of
nuclear weapons in Cuba). I thought that the analysis presented in this
chapter tied all of the previously written history together into a nice
package. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a
solid explanation of the Missile Crisis and just how close we really did
come to global destruction.
 High
Noon in the Cold War
Mr. Frankel's brief account of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 is an
excellent introduction for the general reader. Countless books and
movies have told the story of how President Kennedy avoided World War
III over the nuclear missiles that the Russians placed in Cuba.
The advantage to Mr. Frankel's tale is his judicious use of newly
declassified documents from American and Russian archives. Additionally,
he had covered the crisis for the New York Times and injects himself
occasionally into the story with a note of urgency. Both Kennedy and
Khrushchev have to maneuver to give themselves time to pull back from
the brink of nuclear warfare and slow down their over-eager generals
from making a fatal mistake. Knowing the outcome of the story does not
lessen the tension for the reader.
This is not an exhaustive and definitive account of the Cuban Missile
Crisis. It is a clear and concise re-telling of a story where men rose
to the occasion and did their best, where only their best would save the
world from a nuclear holocaust. I highly recommend either of the superb
thrillers "The Missiles of October" (1974) or "Thirteen Days" (2001) for
those readers who are movie buffs.
 Titan
II
There are a number of good books on the history of ballistic missiles.
Edmund Beard, Richard Armacost and Harold Sapolski have all written
classic books on the management of early ballistic missile programs.
There are some more recent books that either re-cover this earlier
ground or add to it. However, there are no real technical histories
devoted to the development of any of the ballistic missiles the United
States has built over the years. This book begins to fill that void.
David Stumpf previously wrote a book on the Navy's Regulus cruise
missile that is a pretty comprehensive history. He did a good job with
that one. Now he has turned his attention to the Titan II and done
another great job.
Titan II is a detailed history of the development of the United States'
second ICBM (technically, it could be considered the third, since it
bears only limited resemblance to the Titan I that preceded it). This is
a book focused on the technical development of the missile, the
development and construction of its launch silos, its launch tests, its
operational history, and its retirement from service in the 1980s. It is
filled with illustrations, most of which have never been published
before. And it is clear from his sources that he did not simply review
previously published articles on the Titan II, but interviewed the
people who worked on it and gathered information from private archives
and previously classified materials.
The book does not go into the development of the space launch version of
the Titan. The history of the development of the Titan III and the Titan
IV rockets still awaits writing. He does, however, include a chapter on
the refurbishment of old Titan II ICBMs into launch vehicles during the
1980s.
Stumpf includes an interesting discussion of the development of missile
reentry vehicles. This is a subject that I personally believe could use
a book in itself. I think it would be fascinating to trace the
development of this technology.
Stumpf also includes an extensive discussion of several accidents
involving the Titan II. And he discusses how and why the missiles were
ultimately removed from service.
There are also useful appendices at the end of the book, listing the
various flight tests (and their accuracy), the missiles produced, and
other details.
We can only hope that he turns his attention to other early Cold War
missile programs. This is an impressive piece of work. |
