Apocalypse Never: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that the author of Apocalypse Never is a long-time friend of mine and I read and commented on several chapters in manuscript. That said, I simply wouldn't have reviewed this book if I did not honestly consider it excellent. There is no shortage of talk on the news about nuclear terrorism, but the threat of nuclear war is commonly assumed to have gone away with the Cold War. One of the key points of Apocalypse Never is that neglecting this threat is a mistake -- one that puts our civilization, our species, and much of life on Earth at risk. While nuclear war or accidental detonation is currently less likely than nuclear terror, with enough time, the nearly impossible becomes nearly inevitable. The math is simple: the more states have nukes and the more time they have them, the greater the chances of catastrophe. A central part of this book is its analysis of why countries like Iran and North Korea want nuclear weapons to begin with. To actually use them in an attack would be suicide, but even a handful of nukes provides a highly effective deterrent against aggression, especially US aggression. The US has the strongest military in the world, but it can be held off by the threat of a nuclear attack on American troops or territory. While I think the book's analysis is a bit too US-centric here -- I doubt India's bomb has much to do with defense against a potential American attack -- it is fundamentally sound. (Incidentally, the power and precision of American conventional weapons has much to do with why nuclear weapons are militarily useless for us, a point to which the book devotes half a chapter.) Nuclear abolition is both a condition of our survival and a legal duty under the unfortunately-named Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and several chapters of Apocalypse Never are devoted to exploring how it might be brought about. The crucial one, which I think is easily worth the price of the whole book, is an incisive analysis of the breakout scenario, in which some country reveals a small nuclear arsenal to a de-nuclearized world. Would such a country then proceed to rule the world or even just coerce its neighbors? No, it wouldn't, and the lucid logic and historical analysis of this book show why. Just to whet your appetite: the breakout scenario has already occurred -- in 1945. While the logic of this book is powerful, it is also a deeply personal work, even telling the story of the author's father's participation in the last bombing raid on Japan. It never loses sight of the bigger picture and the last chapter is devoted to ideas even bigger than nuclear abolition. It talks about the emerging ethic of human unity, about the historical and cosmological stakes of the struggle for nuclear abolition. (There is probably intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy -- but what if we're alone?) The effect is, by turns, sobering and inspiring, and of all the book, it is the last chapter that I will be turning

This book is a real page turner. I couldn't put it down. Mr. Daley sure has the gift of gab and also of writing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone for a very entertaining read.

This is the best book on nuclear weapons and the need for their total abolition since the wonderfully titled book "Nuclear Weapons: What's In It For You?" (by Earl & Roger Molandar). This book lays out, for all who care to see, the fundamental choice facing humanity: continuing on the path to virtually certain eventual nuclear disaster of varying degrees or the path of zero nuclear weapons. The irony of our posture is well demonstrated: it is now only the third-rate piss-ant tin-pot dictators of the world who have any real use for nuclear weapons, whereas the United States has such overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons that we will be lucky to convince the rest of the world to adopt a zero nukes regime. I have been reading books on the nuclear war and peace issue since 1983, having read several thousand by now, and this is the new Number One book to read. For all those who are willing to take the time to read about the Number One issue facing humanity.