Arsenals of Folly -- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race

In a narrative that reads like a thriller, Rhodes reveals how the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s led ailing Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to conclude that Reagan must be preparing for a nuclear war. In the fall of 1983, when NATO staged a larger than usual series of field exercises that included, uniquely, a practice run-up to a nuclear attack, the Soviet military came very close to launching a defensive first strike on Europe and North America. With Soviet aircraft loaded with nuclear bombs warming up on East German runways, U.S. intelligence organizations finally realized the danger.

As a general rule, we are just way too sure of ourselves. This volume appears to be a continuation of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb.