Arsenals of Folly

The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race

De: Richard Rhodes

Narrado por: Robertson Dean

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb: the story of the entire postwar superpower arms race, climaxing during the Reagan-Gorbachev decade when the United States and the Soviet Union came within scant hours of nuclear war - and then nearly agreed to abolish nuclear weapons. In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration’s unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan’s famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev.

Rhodes’s detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives, demonstrating that the manipulation of government and public opinion with fake intelligence and threat inflation that the administration of George W. Bush has used to justify the current “war on terror” and the disastrous invasion of Iraq were developed and applied in the Reagan era and even before. Drawing on personal interviews with both Soviet and U.S. participants, and on a wealth of new documentation, memoir literature, and oral history that has become available only in the past 10 years, Rhodes recounts what actually happened in the final years of the Cold War that led to its dramatic end.

The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.

©2007 Richard Rhodes (P)2007 Books on Tape

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The clarity of the historical record reinforces Rhodes' fiercely held political convictions." (Publishers Weekly)

“Throughout his assiduously researched work, Rhodes cites stunning statistics to support his contention that the nuclear competition has run amok...dense with crucial, revealing information obtained from personal interviews and newly declassified documents, Rhodes’s Arsenals of Folly is a dramatic and penetrating investigation of the nuclear arms race and its eventual end.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“Every age finds the writers it needs, and the nuclear age has found Richard Rhodes.” (The Nation)

An excellent overview of the Regan/Gorbachev negotiations

A clear, strong vocal performance of a great book. An excellent primer on the history of the Cold War arms control personalities and the Regan and Gorbachev Iceland talks.

The terrible choice Reagan made because of Star Wars pipe dream.

I enjoyed the book a lot it was very informative and interesting to listen to.

Clarity & Truth

Another in R. Rhodes great books on Nuclear weapons. His depth of analysis is tremendous. Russia, the U.S., Gorbachev & Reagan all explained with careful detail and balance. Very interesting & enlightening. On to his next book....

Another phenomenal work by Rhodes

This is the third book on Audible I've bought by Richard Rhodes and this is my personal favorite. Rhodes provides an unmatched level of detail and makes all the information feel very personal. I highly recommend this book to any Cold War history enthusiasts and this is a must read if you have read Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun as this book seamlessly transitions to the politics left off in the last two books. The narration is superb as well.

Story telling at its best

Richard Rhodes, once again, takes a complex story and brings it alive in both character and detail. I can't say enough about the compelling nature of Mr. Rhodes's writing (on whatever subject). Any of his books are highly recommended.

Essential non-fiction that reads like a thriller

Fascinating, enlightening, and maddening. Beautifully written and narrated. I strongly recommend the whole series on the development of nuclear weapons. All the books focus on the personalities involved; it’s not just dry technical details.

history I'd never heard

i was familiar with the Cold War and the nuclear arms race from the U.S. point of view, but this presented a clearer picture of both sides .

Great delivery

Great book. I am a big fan of Rhodes. Phenomenal job by the reader. Well spoken. Crisp. Clear.

overall outstanding

this is a gripping book. I was a big fan of Rhodes' "Making of the Atomic Bomb". It should be noted that this book is both history mixed with a significant amount of 'editorial',i.e. it is much more biased. Instead of just focusing on facts, the author's deep seeded believe that the arms race was avoidable, tragic, and a huge waste of resources is more than evident. I would have preferred he let the reader come to his/her own conclusions.
that being said, the book starts with an unbelievable chapter about the Chernobyl disaster, setting the stage for the rest of the story. This is an incredible way to do this, becuase it makes the reader realize in real terms what nuclear war would have been like, given that Chernobyl would only be a taste of the devastation.
The middle sections of the book are a little dry, with long discussions about particulars of the gorbachov/Reagan summits the go one for lengthy periods. The West (and the Reagan administration in particular, although not necessarily Reagan himself) comes out of the book looking quite silly, while Gorbachev comes out looking quite heroic. i am not sure things are really that black and white.
In the end though, this was just an awesome look back at how isolated decisions look silly in a historical context, and makes you wonder what type of silly decisions we are making today. would recommend highly.
Narration is outstanding as well.

nuclear world

great book. the understanding of nuclear physics changed the world forever. the politics, industry and science