Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes delivers a riveting account of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War.
In the Reagan-Gorbachev era, the United States and the Soviet Union came within minutes of nuclear war, until Gorbachev boldly launched a campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons, setting the stage for the 1986 Reykjavik summit and the incredible events that followed. In this thrilling, authoritative narrative, Richard Rhodes draws on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants and a wealth of new documentation to unravel the compelling, shocking story behind this monumental time in human history--its beginnings, its nearly chilling consequences, and its effects on global politics today.

Reviews

"A gripping narrative of the paranoia, cynicism, bureaucratic infighting and manipulation that brought the world close to annihilation." --"San Francisco Chronicle" "Every age finds the writers it needs, and the nuclear age has found Richard Rhodes."--"The Nation""Throughout his assiduously researched work, Rhodes cites stunning statistics to support his contention that the nuclear competition has run amok . . . dense with crucial, revealing information obtained from personal interviews and newly declassified documents, Rhodes's Arsenals of Folly""is a dramatic and penetrating investigation of the nuclear arms race and its eventual end."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer""A terrifying overview of the global potential for killing."--"The Economist""Rhodes performs the remarkable feat of reconstructing all the niggling, the misunderstanding, the moments of obtuseness in a way that proves dramatic precisely in its repetitiveness and frustration."--"Newsday""His artful narrative contains some re