Thinking About The Unthinkable
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the height of the Cold War, one man dared to confront the most terrifying question of the modern age: what happens if nuclear war actually comes? Thinking About the Unthinkable by Herman Kahn — the controversial strategist and futurist whose work at the RAND Corporation made him one of the most provocative thinkers of the 20th century — presents a rigorous, unflinching analysis of nuclear conflict, civil defense, deterrence strategy, and the sobering mechanics of post-war survival. Written at a time when most policymakers and citizens recoiled from even contemplating nuclear exchange, Kahn argued that failing to think through such scenarios was itself a catastrophic strategic error, and he details with clinical precision the military, political, and humanitarian calculus that would govern a nuclear confrontation. Kahn's work stands as a landmark of strategic theory, drawing on systems analysis, game theory, and geopolitical realism to construct a framework that is as unsettling as it is intellectually rigorous — his dispassionate prose famously inspired the dark satire of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Beyond its historical significance, the book raises enduring philosophical questions about rationality, morality, and the responsibilities of power in an age of weapons capable of ending civilization. For readers who wish to understand how Cold War strategists truly thought — and the chilling logic that shaped nuclear policy for generations — this volume remains an essential, haunting read.
Author: Herman Kahn
Format: Paperback
Genre: Politics & law
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
At the height of the Cold War, one man dared to confront the most terrifying question of the modern age: what happens if nuclear war actually comes? Thinking About the Unthinkable by Herman Kahn — the controversial strategist and futurist whose work at the RAND Corporation made him one of the most provocative thinkers of the 20th century — presents a rigorous, unflinching analysis of nuclear conflict, civil defense, deterrence strategy, and the sobering mechanics of post-war survival. Written at a time when most policymakers and citizens recoiled from even contemplating nuclear exchange, Kahn argued that failing to think through such scenarios was itself a catastrophic strategic error, and he details with clinical precision the military, political, and humanitarian calculus that would govern a nuclear confrontation. Kahn's work stands as a landmark of strategic theory, drawing on systems analysis, game theory, and geopolitical realism to construct a framework that is as unsettling as it is intellectually rigorous — his dispassionate prose famously inspired the dark satire of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Beyond its historical significance, the book raises enduring philosophical questions about rationality, morality, and the responsibilities of power in an age of weapons capable of ending civilization. For readers who wish to understand how Cold War strategists truly thought — and the chilling logic that shaped nuclear policy for generations — this volume remains an essential, haunting read.