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Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Rhodes
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $28.95
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Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 277794
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0375414134
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.021709045
EAN: 9780375414138
ASIN: 0375414134
Publication Date: October 9, 2007
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Product Description
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 reads like a thriller, Rhodes reveals how the Reagan administration’s unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s led ailing Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to conclude that Reagan must be preparing for a nuclear war. In the fall of 1983, when NATO staged a larger than usual series of field exercises that included, uniquely, a practice run-up to a nuclear attack, the Soviet military came very close to launching a defensive first strike on Europe and North America. With Soviet aircraft loaded with nuclear bombs warming up on East German runways, U.S. intelligence organizations finally realized the danger. Then Reagan, out of deep conviction, launched the arms-reduction campaign of his second presidential term and set the stage for his famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the breakthroughs that followed.
Rhodes reveals the early influence of neoconservatives and right-wing figures such as Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Paul Wolfowitz. We see how Perle in particular sabotaged the Reykjavik meeting by convincing Reagan that mutual nuclear disarmament meant giving up his cherished dream of strategic defense (the Star Wars system). Rhodes’s detailed exploration of these and other events 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 ten 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Excellent overview of the end of the arms race November 13, 2008
Richard Rhodes has written yet another book on the development and politics behind nuclear weapons. In "The Arsenals of Folly," he worries less about the actual creation of nuclear weapons (see the superb "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" for that), and more about the political atmosphere surrounding the end of the Cold War. Much emphasis is placed on the life and career of Mikhail Gorbachev, and his relationship with Ronald Reagan. A lot of detail goes into the inner workings of the Reagan administration, especially in regard to talks with Gorbachev over nuclear weapons. Mr. Rhodes put a great deal of research into the talks between Reagan and Gorbachev, and the motivations and thoughts that both men had. The Arsenals of Folly is a comprehensive look at the dealings of cold war politics during the 80's, although it does not cover much beside that. The writing is clear and concise, and Rhodes does an excellent job of keeping the reader entertained as well as informed. Definitely a book that I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about the arms race and the Cold War.
 Arsenals of Folly: The UN-Making of the Nuclear Arms Race. September 11, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was very excited to have the opportunity to read Richard Rhodes Third Book in his Nuclear Weapons series. His first book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb and his second "Dark Sun" were truly outstanding. Mr. Rhodes first two books gave a pretty fair and unbiased view of history. This third book was a major disappointment. Although the writing is superb as all of Mr. Rhodes books have been, I felt that he allowed his own "political" views to skew his portrayal of the closing years of the Cold War.
I particularly took exception to his agreement with the assertion that Nuclear Weapons FAILED to deter major war during the Cold War period. While it is certainly true that the United States and the Soviet Union did become actively involved in surrogate hostilities (i.e. Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.) during the period of the Cold war, there was NO major war. Unlike World War II when Russia and the United States were openly attacked by other nations (Germany and Japan respectively), the deterrent of the nuclear threat did, in fact, keep not ONLY the United States and the Soviet Union from attacking each other, but kept ANY and ALL other nations from doing so. It is my firm belief (politics aside), that if either the United States or Russia had unconditionally (nuclear) disarmed at any time during the Cold War, or even now, some nation would have, and still might seize the opportunity to attack either country. Unfortunately limited conventional war has never become obsolete. But total world war has (not in spite of, but) because of the NUCLEAR deterrent.
Finally, I must also take exception to Mr. Rhodes last paragraph of his book. It can clearly be taken that Mr. Rhodes feels that the United States has become the biggest bully on the block (his reference to the biggest scorpion), that the United States is obstinate towards other nations, and that we should be ashamed of ourselves for continuing to claim (in his words) our OLD and DERELICT sovereignty that the weapons themselves deny. I for one, take America's sovereignty very seriously. Many true patriots have paid for the United States sovereignty with their blood. These patriots gave the last full measure of their devotion to this Country. It is sad when historical revisionists (like Mr. Rhodes) use their prestige as a renoun writer, as a forum for their (Liberal) assertions that attempt to pass for history.
Arsenals of Folly byv Richard Rhodes September 1, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Richard Rhodes - Arsenals of Folly: The making of the nuclear arms race
In a book characterized by exceptional research, Richard Rhodes shows beyond all doubt that the nuclear arms race was more opportunistic than ideological. On both sides there were hidden agenda by the military-industrial complex to amplify the risk from the other. In the case of the US, who largely drove the race, the conservative wing of politics is clearly identified. Rhodes chronicles the "climate of fear" that was propagated by those who clearly profited financially from this madness. On the Soviet side it is more difficult to identify the drivers, but no doubt as documentation of the Soviet era becomes more available, further evidence will materialize. Rhodes gives great credit to Gorbachev, who was the first politician to have the courage and intelligence to challenge the status quo (even President Carter was unable to reduce the arms budget) and who also realized how to play to President Reagan. He shows conclusively that the hero in the west was actually Secretary of State George Schultz, who understood Reagan, perhaps even better that the President did himself.
In a terrifying section, it becomes apparent that Reagan lived in a make-believe world dominated by the movies. Two in particular formed his thinking, the first, "The day after" was a film about a nuclear bomb dropping in Kansas and the aftermath; the second was the famous film of George Lucas "Star Wars". In Reagan's mind, they gave him a "message" to deliver the world from the nuclear threat; Schultz was able to work on these themes and in the end out-manoeuvre the right wing, personified by Richard Perle and Edward Teller, and push through the huge disarmament that led to the end of the cold war. None of them, not even Gorbachev, and certainly nobody at the CIA, expected the Soviet Empire to implode.
Rhodes writes convincingly of the lessons from the cold war for the future, but one senses that he is not optimistic. As we have all seen, 9/11 has given another "excuse" for cultivating the climate of fear, and the present administration has played that for all its worth. The answer no doubt lies in a better-educated electorate, but to get there is the challenge. This is a book that should be discussed in high schools throughout the land, but there seems little chance of that.
G H Lander
Aug 2008
Best book about the Cold War I've read May 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An amazing conclusion to Rhodes' trilogy about the Bomb. As always, riveting and filled with fascinating anecdotes. The reflections at the end of this book about the collapse of the Soviet Union and our own country's current path will stay with you for days. Bravo!
 Rhode's Book of Folly: Remaking History Post Cold War May 19, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed the first half of this book and learned quite a bit about what life in the U.S.S.R. may have been like. It was a sad commentary on what life is like under Communist rule, with a ray of hope found in Michael Gorbachev and his rise to power.
A little over half way thru the book Rhodes completely loses his bearing when President Reagan becomes the focus of his writing. His critique of Reagan's foreign policy, and Ronald Reagan the man, is so hate-filled that any chance for Rhodes to return to an historical narrative similar to the first half of this book was lost. For example, Reagan is initially portrayed as a provocative lunatic taunting the Soviet Union with the hopes of starting WWIII - there is some truth here, since Reagan did want to unhinge the Leaders of the Soviet Union, but not as a means to provoke them into making a first strike. He also emphasized Reagan's reinvigoration of the arms race with the intent to bankrupt the Soviet Union by doing so - again, some truth here but disingenuous in the context presented by Rhodes. For all of Reagan's short-comings including; a lack of knowledge of nuclear arsenal, ability to only comprehend a subject if it was in a movie (a conclusion based upon the fact that Reagan used to be an actor, thus Hollywood movies where the only way he could learn); his romantic, dreamy nature which divorced him from reality (didn't King have a dream?), Reagan certainly made an impression on the KGB, Communist Leaders, and the World.
For Rhodes this impression seems up for grabs as he portrays Reagan as the worst thing that could have happened to the U.S. and the world during such a crisis. To state the obvious the U.S.S.R. fell without a first strike or an all out nuclear war, and many Russian leaders including Michael Gorbachev, felt that it was President Reagan's foreign policy which caused this fall. If you would like to investigate the specific actions taken during Reagan's Presidency, or a counter balance to Rhodes' book of Folly, I would recommend "Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy That Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union" by Peter Schweizer.
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