Nuclear War

Annie Jacobsen has put together what is basically a well-researched novel to guide the reader through the mechanics of nuclear deterrence. Rather than having a simple recitation of facts of how elements of deterrence (or the failure thereof) would work, she creates a fictitious scenario that weaves those explanations together into a narrative. The result is one of the most compelling things I’ve read in years.

I’ve seen repeated criticisms of the book mention that some elements of the scenario aren’t well developed, but the author’s goal was to illustrate what a nuclear attack would look like, not write a 1200 page Tom Clancy tome. There are elements of the story that can be a little far-fetched, but they’re still reflective of real plans that real people working for our real government have really put in place, and some of those plans are pretty wacky.

The text is dense with technical details - what systems are deployed, how they work, and what they can’t do. The “can’t do” part is especially important as a lot of the strategy of nuclear deterrence originates from blind spots and shortcomings of various sensors, weapons, and safety systems. The author does a really wonderful job depicting the sort of confusion that can come about when you combine technical weaknesses with human indecision.

There’s great insight into how the structures of the military and intelligence community come together in these scenarios. What the organizations are, who the organizations are ran by, what the role of that organization is and isn’t, and where those people and organizations are physically positioned are explained in accessible detail. Historical elements about how those organizations evolved are woven in for context.

I’m deducting one star because the author routinely throws in embellishments that can be a little distracting. The is absolutely no reason to attempt to embellish the effects of a nuclear weapon - it is truly mindbogglingly horrifying. Those embellishments elicited an eye-roll when I would have otherwise just sat and reflected for a moment.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in national security. The abundant references also serve as a great guide to further reading.

Honestly found this book insulting to its readers. The author loves sentence fragments and will make a point in a single sentence then pad it with half a dozen fragments from a batch of their favorite phrases. I don't think you need to work very hard to find a reasonably plausible scenario for an actual nuclear exchange, but the scenario in this book appears to be "the unnamed leader of North Korea decided to launch a decapitation strike against the USA for funsies". At one point the author has a sentence along the lines of "We don't know why NK launched this attack" -- MOTHERFUCKER YOU WROTE THE BOOK! YOU PUT THE IDEA IN THEIR HEAD!

There's random math errors that probably aren't important but are certainly confusing. There's a lot of arbitrary twists and turns to ensure the worst case outcome. Also, there's a lot of talk about EMP attacks in this book. It might actually be the bulk of the content here. This is particularly noteworthy because the author is largely (and directly) echoing right-wing talking points from the Newt Gingrich EMP people. We don't even know if an EMP would work at all, but in this book NK manages to get one off so successfully that it's unclear why they decided a nuke was required at all.

Editing this to mention that the President of the United States parachutes out of Marine One for some reason.

Anyway, you shouldn't waste your time with this. There's a pile of better options available to you if you'd like to be scared out of your wits about nuclear weapons. Read Command and Control by Eric Schlosser, or just go watch The Day After.

I feel like I read a completely different book from literally everyone else because I disagree with both the, "omg so scary!" 5-star takes and the "boring/America=bad" 2-star takes and everything in between. What we have here is not a plausible hypothetical scenario as much as a literary product that was designed to make the author as much money as possible (and apparently a movie deal with Denis Villeneuve directing) through irresponsible fearmongering.

Even neglecting the slice of Swiss cheese presented to us as a plot, this book just isn't written well. When the literal content of your book addresses a highly destructive war that begins and ends within the span of an hour, you can take a step back and let the actions and events speak for themselves. But the author goes out of her way to tip the scales too blatantly by continuous repetition of pertinent facts for dramatic effect. I don't need my hand held to be told that nuclear weapons being used are bad.

It's clear that the author had an agenda and a desired outcome that was likely decided upon first, which she then worked her way backwards from. The problem is that for all the research she conducted and cited (I actually did respect the very thorough notes that made up the entire last fifth of the book), she poses decisions and conditions that fall apart under scrutiny and even the slightest understanding of modern geopolitics. Not to spoil anything, but what doesn't happen in this book is what really made it all fall apart for me. I feel like an apology is owed to all the people she interviewed while researching this book.

I hate to compare books head-to-head in reviews but I have to do it here: read 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States by Jeffrey Lewis for a piece of contemporary speculative fiction that does everything this book set out to do, but better in literally every conceivable way.