{"product_id":"to-kill-nations-american-strategy-in-the-air-atomic-age-and-the-rise-of-mutually-assured-destruction-hardback-9780801452482","title":"To Kill Nations; American Strategy in the Air-Atomic Age and the Rise of Mutually Assured Destruction (Hardback) 9780801452482","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eTo Kill Nations\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eAmerican Strategy in the Air-Atomic Age and the Rise of Mutually Assured Destruction\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eEdward Kaplan (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780801452482\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 22 April 2015\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e276 pages, 1 halftone, 5 tables - 1 Halftones, black and white\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eTo Kill Nations\u003c\/i\u003e Edward Kaplan describesa long process of evolution and adaptation as U.S. political and military leaders grappled with integrating nuclear weapons into national defense after World War II. Strikingly, he sees not a sudden revolution but a gradual process of incremental changes in military preparedness policy and action.\u003c\/p\u003e (Journal of American History) \u003cp\u003eThere are many other studies of weapons development and Eisenhower and Kennedy's approaches to national defense. The great strength of Kaplan's is his tracing of the evolution of US policy in response to perceived Soviet capabilities. He astutely demonstrates how the Berlin and Cuban missile crises exposed the drawbacks of preparing primarily for an atomic war with the Soviet Union.\u003ci\u003eTo Kill Nations\u003c\/i\u003e will enlighten readers seeking an intelligent overview of the evolution of airpower strategy in the first twenty-five years of the Cold War as well as, more specifically, President Eisenhower's New Look security policy and Robert McNamara's influence on national security strategy during the Kennedy administration.\u003c\/p\u003e (Michigan War Studies Review) \u003cp\u003eKaplan draws extensively on archival records, including declassified government documents, to tell the story of how US nuclear strategy went from being focused on winning nuclear war with the Soviet Union to being more in line with the [mutually assured destruction] thinking made famous by early nuclear deterrence scholars, such as Thomas Schelling.... The book is a well-researched, interesting history of SAC and SAC's influence on US national security strategy during the first twenty years of the Cold War.\u003c\/p\u003e (H-NET Reviews) \u003cp\u003eEdward Kaplan's \u003ci\u003eTo Kill Nations \u003c\/i\u003eis a fascinating work that packs a thermonuclear punch of ideas and arguments into 223 pages of dense but readable text (260 including endnotes, etc.). The work is suitable for anyone from advanced undergraduates to experts in the field.\u003c\/p\u003e (Strategy Bridge)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Edward Kaplan's \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Kill Nations\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e is a fascinating work that packs a thermonuclear punch of ideas and arguments... The work is suitable for anyone from advanced undergraduates to experts in the field.\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e â• \u003ci\u003eStrategy Bridge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eTo Kill Nations\u003c\/i\u003e, Edward Kaplan traces the evolution of American strategic airpower and preparation for nuclear war from this early air-atomic era to a later period (1950–1965) in which the Soviet Union's atomic capability, accelerated by thermonuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, made American strategic assets vulnerable and gradually undermined air-atomic strategy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eKaplan throws into question both the inevitability and preferability of the strategic doctrine of MAD. He looks at the process by which cultural, institutional, and strategic ideas about MAD took shape and makes insightful use of the comparison between generals who thought they could win a nuclear war and the cold institutional logic of the suicide pact that was MAD. Kaplan also offers a reappraisal of Eisenhower's nuclear strategy and diplomacy to make a case for the marginal viability of air-atomic military power even in an era of ballistic missiles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e 1. Antecedents\u003cbr\u003e 2. Declaration, Action, and the Air-Atomic Strategy\u003cbr\u003e 3. Finding a Place\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Fantastic Compression of Time\u003cbr\u003e 5. To Kill a Nation\u003cbr\u003e 6. Stalemate, Finite Deterrence, Polaris, and SIOP-62\u003cbr\u003e 7. New Sheriff in Town\u003cbr\u003e 8. End of an Era\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Key to Sources and Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52695028498712,"sku":"9780801452482","price":33.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/to-kill-nations-american-strategy-in-the-air-atomic-age-and-the-rise-of-mutually-assured-destruction-hardback-9780801452482","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}