Nuclear War
A Scenario
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Nuclear War
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Narrated by:
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Annie Jacobsen
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Written by:
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Annie Jacobsen
About this listen
The INSTANT New York Times bestseller
Instant Los Angeles Times bestseller
One of NPR's Books We Love
One of Newsweek Staffers' Favorite Books of the Year
Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize
“In Nuclear War: A Scenario, Annie Jacobsen gives us a vivid picture of what could happen if our nuclear guardians fail…Terrifying.”—Wall Street Journal
There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And one of the triggers for that war would be a nuclear missile inbound toward the United States.
Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.
Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading, and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.
©2024 Penguin Audio (P)2024 Annie JacobsenYou may also enjoy...
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Shocking detail of how close we came to a full blown war- not once but twice.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 282
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- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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- Written by: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Mr. Peter Zeihan
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
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Great job enjoy the book
- By Smcneill on 2024-12-23
Written by: Mr. Peter Zeihan
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- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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2 out of 5 stars
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What the critics say
“Gripping . . . essential if you want to understand the complex and disturbing details that go into a civilization-destroying decision to drop the Bomb on an enemy. . . . Jacobsen has done her homework. She has spent more than a decade interviewing dozens of experts while mastering the voluminous literature on the subject, some of it declassified only in recent years.”—New York Times Book Review
“Timeless, masterful. . .A stomach-clenching, multi-perspective, ticking-clock, geopolitical thriller. Jacobsen expertly delivers a madman’s portrait of Armageddon, one made all the more impactful by the thought that it could literally occur at any moment. Almost novel-like in its presentation, Nuclear War: A Scenario represents the equivalent of an existential gut punch, a sickening and necessary reminder of how fragile every 21st century convenience becomes in the face of a blinding flash of light and near-instantaneous shockwave. Exhaustively researched and featuring interviews with professionals who truly understand just how close we continue to creep toward thermonuclear annihilation Nuclear War: A Scenario should be required reading for everyone alive today, especially for the politicians and policymakers who literally hold the precarious fate of our species in their hands.”—Forbes
“At once methodical and vivid. In documenting the minutiae of the apocalypse, the writing is redolent of 'Hiroshima', a seminal article by John Hersey published in the New Yorker in 1946.”—The Economist
What listeners say about Nuclear War
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anon
- 2024-04-09
Incredibly effective in its goal
I’ve had a sick feeling for a few days since absorbing this book. I feel ‘absorbing’ is the appropriate term because most people, myself included, are completely ignorant of the fact that every day we are here is due purely to luck. Everything, literally everything, can all be gone in a few hours.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anthony
- 2024-05-10
I learned alot!
Great listen ! Gets slower then I liked near the middle but that's expected in simulation/scenario titles.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 2024-03-31
very detailed and well researched yet still hard to believe.
It's interesting, but I felt that it takes the scenario to an extreme that is hard to believe.
In particular, when discussing the impacts of an EMP attack, the author makes claims about how systems such as elevators in high rose buildings would be impacted, and they clearly did not research these details as they have made inaccurate claims. While there is chance of total apocalyptic full nuclear exchange, it's more likely that more of the systems will not operate as expected when so much of its reliability is counting on humans to behave as predicted.
The idea that the US or Russia would launch everything in their nuclear arsenals at each other when the initial attack came out of the blue and both sides know it was a third-party is very hard to swallow. Facts of continuity of government, and launch control mechanisms are very interesting and sources are credible.
I rate this 4 out of 5.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2024-04-10
The mad king and his nuke.
A frightening look at the reality of nuclear weapons and the probable consequences of their use. Don't read this at night.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stan C.
- 2024-05-03
nuclear winter chilling
The story is so gripping and likely based on a lot of research and hard work. Really had no idea that NK could cause so much damage or even that a single nuclear missile can be so devastating. It's really an eye opener as to why so much power to destroy should not be in anyone's control especially a madman. I won't lie, the consequences written here are much more dire than I ever imagined and I can't believe at any point in the last 80 years since the development of nuclear weapons we were even remotely close to a total annihilation. Hope whoever's in charge sees this book and realizes it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Garrett Bowman
- 2024-06-30
Scary but captivating
Incredible detail and great story , well researched all around well read. Hard to believe this is real
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Adam H.
- 2025-01-06
Mandatory Reading.
For a step by step, minute by minute, procedural book, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. At first I thought the authors delivery was a bit monotone, but quickly as the book unfolds, I began to appreciate the directness of the delivery and the facts laid out in it. The obvious amount of research and the qualifications of the subjects, only make this whole book that much more alarming. Highly recommend this, but maybe not for kids.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Geoffrey Kemble
- 2024-07-18
Sobering, incredible, horrifying
This book really opened my eyes to the horror and frankly, the stupidity of nuclear weapons. The dramatic flare in this story at first I thought a little cheesy but later really enjoyed. It highlighted that even though there are plans in place for nuclear war, nothing will go as planned. An in depth look into the systems in place and what nuclear war really is...an apocalypse that will surely end society and possibly humanity altogether. This book is am incredible read I recommend to anyone. but be warned, you won't get warm butterfly feelings, there are no heros in the apocalypse.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2024-04-12
Riveting and horrifying
An absolutely stunning look into a hypothetical scenario that seems so far away, yet so close at the same time Jacobsen is a true artist.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- David Zulkoskey
- 2024-10-07
A shocking and poignant account of nuclear war
I grew up in the late Cold War in a house where my brother and I were taught about what to fear about nuclear war. Our father constructed a bomb shelter in the basement and in this time of concern for war we lived and existed. This book brings to life in our modern world what we feared we might experience if war were to happen. In an hour of elapsed time our 21 century world is blown back to the Stone Age. The book provides a chilling reminder of the brutality of dictatorships and the power that leaders of those countries possess. It is a compelling account of the countdown to Armageddon. In literature we have the book On the Beach and in film Dr Strangelove and now this nonfiction work. Hold those that are dear to you close and pray that we never experience what this book tells with precision. All in all an excellent book.
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