From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War--how such a crisis arose, and why at the very last possible moment it didn't happen. In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Mining new sources and materials, and going far beyond the scope of earlier works on this critical face-off between the United States and the Soviet Union--triggered when Khrushchev began installing missiles in Cuba at Castro's behest--Sherwin shows how this volatile event was an integral part of the wider Cold War and was a consequence of nuclear arms. Gambling with Armageddon looks in particular at the original debate in the Truman Administration about using the Atomic Bomb; the way in which President Eisenhower relied on the threat of massive retaliation to project U.S. power in the early Cold War era; and how President Kennedy, though unprepared to deal with the Bay of Pigs debacle, came of age during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Here too is a clarifying picture of what was going on in Khrushchev's Soviet Union. Martin Sherwin has spent his career in the study of nuclear weapons and how they have shaped our world. Gambling with Armegeddon is an outstanding capstone to his work thus far.

Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis

Humor & Entertainment

Sherwin, Martin J.

Puzzles & Games

KNOPF

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War--how such a crisis arose and why, at the very last possible moment, it never happened. "Fresh and thrilling.... A fascinating work of history that is very relevant to today's politics." --Walter Isaacson,&nbsp;bestselling author of The Code Breaker Pulitzer Prize-winning author Martin J. Sherwin introduces a dramatic new view of how luck and leadership avoided a nuclear holocaust during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Set within the sweep of the Cold War and its nuclear history, every chapter of this gripping narrative of the origins and resolution of history's most dangerous thirteen days offers lessons and a warning for our time. Gambling with Armageddon presents a riveting, page turning account of the crisis as well as an original exploration of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the Post-World War II world.

Vintage

American Prometheus is the first full-scale biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb,” the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the awesome fire of the sun for his country in time of war. Immediately after Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation–one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, the embodiment of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress. He was the author of a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials–an idea that is still relevant today. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force’s plans to fight an infinitely dangerous nuclear war. In the now almost-forgotten hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup, and, in response, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss, Superbomb advocate Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to have a hearing board find that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America’s nuclear secrets. American Prometheus sets forth Oppenheimer’s life and times in revealing and unprecedented detail. Exhaustively researched, it is based on thousands of records and letters gathered from archives in America and abroad, on massive FBI files and on close to a hundred interviews with Oppenheimer’s friends, relatives and colleagues. We follow him from his earliest education at the turn of the twentieth century at New York City’s Ethical Culture School, through personal crises at Harvard and Cambridge universities. Then to Germany, where he studied quantum physics with the world’s most accomplished theorists; and to Berkeley, California, where he established, during the 1930s, the leading American school of theoretical physics, and where he became deeply involved with social justice causes and their advocates, many of whom were communists. Then to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where he transformed a bleak mesa into the world’s most potent nuclear weapons laboratory–and where he himself was transformed. And finally, to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which he directed from 1947 to 1966. American Prometheus is a rich evocation of America at midcentury, a new and compelling portrait of a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man profoundly connected to its major events–the Depression, World War II and the Cold War. It is at once biography and history, and essential to our understanding of our recent past–and of our choices for the future.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Bird, Kai

History

J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress. In this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimer’s life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War. This is biography and history at its finest, riveting and deeply informative.

American Prometheus: The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Vintage Books

Examines the motives, assumptions, and decisions of the scientists, military men, politicians, and diplomats involved in the development and use of the atomic bomb and their impact on the military and diplomatic conduct of World War II

A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance

Asia

Random House, Inc.

Examines the motives, assumptions, and decisions of the scientists, military men, politicians, and diplomats involved in the development and use of the atomic bomb and their impact on the military and diplomatic conduct of World War II

V148 WRLD DESTROYED

Martin J. Sherwin's classic account of the political and diplomatic circumstances surrounding the development of the first atom bomb is as timely now as when it was written. His new introduction warns that until we understand its origins. the arms race will continue to force superpower relations to be conducted at the edge of the nuclear abyss.

A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and the Origins of the Arms Race

J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s. They declared that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets. In this magisterial biography twenty-five years in the making, the authors capture Oppenheimer's life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War.

American Prometheus: Library Edition

Historical

Blackstone Pub

Blackstone Publishing

J. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s. They declared that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets. In this magisterial biography twenty-five years in the making, the authors capture Oppenheimer's life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War.

Memoirs

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sherwin, Martin J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sherwin, Martin J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sherwin, Martin J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis

Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

American Prometheus: The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER

A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance

V148 WRLD DESTROYED

A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and the Origins of the Arms Race

American Prometheus: Library Edition

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

American Prometheus: Library Edition