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Up to now, no one outside of official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilisation as we know it. Frantic calls over secure lines work to confirm the worst as armoured helicopters are scrambled to evacuate the chosen few to secure bunkers. One nuclear missile will provoke two dozen in return. Decisions over hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, knowing that once launched, nothing is capable of halting the destruction. Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts, Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons for ever.
About the author
Annie Jacobsen is the bestselling author of
Nuclear War: A Scenario, which was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize. A 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist, her other books include
Area 51, Operation Paperclip and
Surprise, Kill, Vanish, and have been translated into 26 languages. She also writes and produces TV, including Tom Clancy's
Jack Ryan. A graduate of Princeton University, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons.
Report
As gripping as any thriller, her book brilliantly portrays the horrific reality of nuclear war. P. D. Smith Guardian
