The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War

Fred Kaplan

Jan 2020 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Edward Bauer

About this audiobook

From the author of the classic The Wizards of Armageddon and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes the definitive history of American policy on nuclear war—and Presidents’ actions in nuclear crises—from Truman to Trump.

Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories—based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents—of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.

Kaplan’s historical research and deep reporting will stand as the permanent record of politics. Discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaplan presents the unthinkable in terms of mass destruction and demonstrates how the nuclear war reality will not go away, regardless of the dire consequences.

Ratings and reviews

I got the recommendation from Dan Carlin hardcore history Addendum. The point-in-history that really sparked my interest was the Trump-era hearings about unilateral first strike decisions. I was not disappointed by this listen. This book is all about holding the logic of nuclear war in your head while we progress through modern history. It tells stories about political tensions that steam from the contradictions and absurdity in the logic of nuclear war. As an audiobook, it was a little challenging to keep up with specific terms for those logical constructs - terms like "counter-force" have very specific nuances. I feel like I could have used a little more hand-holding in some of the cases. If you're able to take notes through this, I would recommend it for things like that. It was entertaining and deep throughout all the decades covered, and it is a good morbid escape for those who like to embellish these scenarios in our head.

excellent listen

About the author

Fred Kaplan is the national-security columnist for Slate and the author of five previous books, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War (a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller), 1959, Daydream Believers, and The Wizards of Armageddon. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Brooke Gladstone.