How The End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III

By Ron Rosenbaum

Each chapter of the How the End Beginsdeconstructs the dangers we face. Rosenbaum begins by showing all the ways the post-Cold War order that tried to impose a set of rules of averting a nuclear mistake has fallen apart.

In chapter 2, he describes the journey of one Bruce Blair, once a missile launcher, whose experience inside the nuclear establishment left him alarmed about its vulnerabilities.

Chapter 3 looks at nuclear war from the Russian side, using the architect of that nation's early warning system as a focus.

Chapter 4 looks at how the Bush Administration helped pushed the world closer to a nuclear conflict by rewriting the rules of deterrence.

Chapter 5 describes all the ways the international incidents we have seen - Georgia, the Israeli raid on Syria, the Iranian moves - are evidence that some governments have shown a willingness to move closer to the brink of a conflict involving nuclear weapons.

The rest of the book looks at the broader nuclear issues facing the world in the 21st century: What is deterrence? Who can claim to have it? How many nuclear weapons can we live with? Is zero really possible? In other words: Can we undream the nightmare?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Apr 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9780857202772

Ron Rosenbaum

Ron Rosenbaum is the bestselling author of Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars and has written or edited six other books. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. He writes a column for Slate and lives in New York City.

Reviews for How The End Begins

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Any book dealing with events that haven't happen is inherently difficult, but Rosenbaum has been reporting on nukes since the early 70s and has access to many of the most important players inside the weird and wonky world of nuclear weapons and policy. This is a wide ranging but deeply considered and well informed series of essays on nuclear weapons in the present world, and a warning to not be complacent in the "end of history" holiday following the Cold War. The first chapter looks at all the reasons we should be afraid including many harrowing close calls, as recently as 2007. Later chapters examine three hot spots: Israel/Iran mostly, USA/Russia, and Pakistan/India. Rosenbaum asks many deeply considered good questions that have no good answers and brings to light many uncomfortable facts. For example the taboo against nuclear weapons is well entrenched in popular culture, but this taboo doesn't exist in the military. So he asks awkward questions of nuclear ethics to members of the military establishment since using nukes could result in "100 Hitler Holocausts" and the answers are as funny as disturbing. Overall a lot of interesting insights and perspectives into a largely hidden topic that remains an important part of our cultural backdrop.