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Nuclear War: A Scenario

by Annie Jacobsen

A close look at the minutes after a nuclear launch

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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist

    Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

  • Bestseller

    Instant Los Angeles Times bestseller

  • Editorial selection

    One of NPR's Books We Love

    Selected as one of NPR's Books We Love.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A close look at the minutes after a nuclear launch

Annie Jacobsen builds a hypothetical account of the minutes following a nuclear missile launch, drawing on interviews with military and civilian experts involved in weapons, response planning, and decision-making. The scenario brings together the systems and safeguards surrounding nuclear weapons with the risks of acting on limited intelligence under extreme time pressure. Its scope is deliberately concentrated: how a launch could set decisions and possible retaliation in motion within a matter of minutes. The book connects that compressed sequence to the broader military and political stakes of nuclear warfare.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in nuclear weapons, military history, and security planning.
  • Readers seeking an interview-based account of nuclear response systems and decision-making.
  • Readers interested in scenario-based explorations of high-stakes geopolitical risks.

Themes

Nuclear warfareMilitary decision-makingIntelligence and uncertaintyWeapons safeguards and response planning

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

WITH A NEW AFTERWORD

The INSTANT New York Times bestseller


Instant Los Angeles Times bestseller

Finalist, Dayton Literary Peace Prize

One of NPR's Books We Love

One of Newsweek Staffers' Favorite Books of the Year

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize


"In Nuclear War: A Scenario, Annie Jacobsen gives us a vivid picture of what could happen if our nuclear guardians fail....Terrifying."--The Wall Street Journal

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And one of the triggers for that war would be a nuclear missile inbound toward the United States.


Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in--where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world's end requires massive decisions made on seconds' notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen's Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading, and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.
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