{"product_id":"2026200014462-secondhand-on-escalation","title":"On Escalation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the height of the Cold War, when nuclear annihilation felt like a genuine possibility, Herman Kahn's On Escalation arrived as one of the most provocative and unsettling strategic treatises of the twentieth century, systematically mapping the graduated steps by which a conventional conflict could spiral into thermonuclear catastrophe. Kahn, a leading theorist at the Hudson Institute, presents his now-famous escalation ladder — a 44-rung framework that categorises the stages of military and political conflict from Ostensible Crisis all the way to Spasm or Insensate War, forcing policymakers and strategists to confront scenarios most preferred to leave unimagined.\n\nKahn writes with the cool, clinical detachment of a systems analyst, and it is precisely this unflinching rationalism that makes On Escalation both brilliant and deeply unsettling. The work argues that understanding the mechanics of escalation is not warmongering, but rather the only responsible path to deterrence — a controversial thesis that earned Kahn both fierce admirers and vehement critics. A foundational text in the canon of Cold War strategic thought, this book remains as intellectually challenging today as when it first reshaped the language of international security. Will the ladder Kahn built ever truly be dismantled, or does it remain assembled in the shadows of every modern conflict?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49216196870363,"sku":"2026200014462-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/75e5ca90-617d-4ce2-9a6b-0d79e4800b7b.png?v=1788405100","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200014462-secondhand-on-escalation","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}