The dead hand
This riveting narrative history of the end of the arms race sheds new light on the frightening last chapters of the Cold War and the legacy of the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that remain a threat today. During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand," a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.In the first full account of how the arms race finally ended, The Dead Hand provides an unprecedented look at the inner motives and secret decisions of each side. Drawing on top-secret documents from deep inside the Kremlin, memoirs, and interviews in both Russia and the United States, David Hoffman introduces the scientists, soldiers, diplomats, and spies who saw the world sliding toward disaster and tells the gripping story of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and many others struggled to bring the madness to an end. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the danger continued, and the United States began a race against time to keep nuclear and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists and and rogue states.From the Hardcover edition.
Stats for nerds
17recommend
26mentions
21people
2010–2026years
85% recommend15% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's much cheaper. Read the book "The Dead Hand" for details.
- I personally recommend this book quite highly. It focuses on the U.S/Soviet arms race, so slightly out-dated if you want to know about the modern landscape of nuclear arms politics, but many of the same dynamics among the major states (particularly relevant today for Russia and U.S conflict) still apply. It's also an entertainingly written book aside from being very informative.
(not an affiliate link, just grabbed it off google quickly) https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous-Legacy/dp/...
- The book "The Doomsday Machine" by Daniel Ellsberg. He had access to basically everything. I have read it and highly recommend it. I haven't read the others below but have them all on my shelves, waiting to be read.
"Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser, "Raven Rock: the story of the U.S. government's secret plan to save itself" by Garrett Graff for a historical, US-centric overview.
"On Thermonuclear War" by Herman Kahn for a more technical, if somewhat outdated, analysis.
"The Bomb" by Fred Kaplan, "The 300" by Daniel Wasserbly, and "The Dead Hand" by David Hoffman.
- C&C is excellent. Restricted Data by Alex Wellerstein is a fascinating history of nuclear secrecy. Also known as the NUKEMAP guy.
The Dead Hand by David Hoffman is also amazing and covers chemical and bio weapons as well. It has a good bit on the struggle to contain all of the chem/bio/nuke weapons when the USSR was falling apart.
- If anyone wants a detailed history of nuclear and biological weapons during the Cold War and the early post-Cold War days, I highly recommend The Dead Hand by David Hoffman
- More information can be found in the book "The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy" by David E. Hoffman. It really is a Dr. Strangelove inspired "Doomsday Device".
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