Nuclear War

Politics and government

Description

A surprise North Korean missile attack on Washington and a California power plant opens this minute-by-minute study of how nuclear war could unfold. American defenses fail, leaders confront an immediate decision about retaliation, and strained communications push several nuclear powers toward escalating responses. A flawed Russian warning system adds another layer of danger by misreading the missiles already in flight. Alongside this hypothetical sequence, the book traces the development of U.S. nuclear doctrine and the protocols meant to govern decisions under attack. Expert interviews and declassified documents ground the scenario, revealing how technology, rigid procedures, human judgment, and vanishingly short timelines can interact once deterrence fails and officials must act with incomplete information.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Journalistic

Pace

Fast

Tone

Cerebral · Dark · Suspenseful · Tense

Structure

Braided · Chronological nonfiction

Focus

Ideas · Information · Plot

Emotional intensity

5 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 4 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

MortalityPolitics and ideologyPowerSurvivalTechnology and societyWar

About Annie Jacobsen

Annie Jacobsen writes investigative histories about American national security, concentrating on the institutions, technical systems, and people operating behind official secrecy. She draws on declassified records, private papers, archives, and interviews to connect policy and scientific ambition with their human and ethical consequences. Her account of the German specialists recruited in Operation Paperclip and her history of DARPA in The Pentagon’s Brain both examine how strategic priorities can obscure accountability. Nuclear War applies the same interest in systems and decision-making to a hypothetical attack, showing how doctrine, technology, rigid procedures, and compressed timelines shape official judgment. Across these subjects, Jacobsen treats national security as a sequence of consequential choices rather than an abstract policy.

Book details

Publisher: Dutton (E.P.) & Co Inc, N.Y.
Language: English
ISBN: 9780593476093

Keep your books and notes in Collected for iPhone.

Apple Books is a service mark of Apple Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.