From Booklist In 2007, four former Cold Warriors who helped build up the nation’s nuclear arsenal stunned the world by advocating for its elimination. The four—Henry Kissinger and George Schultz (former secretaries of state), William Perry (former defense secretary), and Sam Nunn (former head of the Senate Armed Services Committee)—were joined by nuclear physicist Sidney Drell to undo much that they had spent their careers doing in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. The threat now is from stateless terrorists and more widespread access to nuclear materials and know-how, making the U.S. more vulnerable to attack with nuclear weapons. Award-winning journalist Taubman chronicles their journey from Cold War–era nuclear advocates to opponents, detailing their personal perspectives, careers, and the politics of the administrations in which they served. Strong personalities with political and ideological differences that provoke tensions, the men, now in their seventies and eighties, have nevertheless persisted in a campaign for nuclear disarmament. Taubman puts their campaign into historical perspective, contrasting the politics of the Cold War with the increasing threat of nuclear terrorism and the way 9/11 has changed the political equation. --Vanessa Bush Read more Review “A fascinating, haunting book. . . . Even for skeptics, Taubman’s book provides an important public service by concentrating on nuclear perils that continue to slip our day-to-day notice. . . . Thought-provoking.” (The New York Times Book Review)“A fascinating portrait of an unlikely coalition of disarmament crusaders . . . . Mr. Taubman describes in chilling detail the threat of these terrible weapons falling into the worst possible hands.” (The Wall Street Journal)“An even-handed look at a convoluted history that is still unfolding. . . . Taubman does a clean job of reducing the elements to layman’s terms. . . . Taubman had unparalleled access to the five men profiled here. . . . It makes for intriguing reading.” (The Los Angeles Times)“Taubman ably revisits many of the classic set pieces of the Cold War-the Cuban missile crisis, the Jasons scientific-advisory team, the nuclear alert during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit at Reykjavik.” (The San Francisco Chronicle)“This brilliant, penetrating study of nuclear threats is in the tradition of David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan. Taubman has, perhaps as importantly, unlocked the history of the war we never had. Readers will tremble at the dangers the world has faced and still faces today.” (Bob Woodward)“Taubman provides a cogent and chilling summary of the threat of nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century.” (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)“The Partnership artfully weaves the threads of five notable lives into a fascinating account of nuclear strategizing over the last five decades. This unfailingly compelling narrative is indispensable reading for all who would understand the desperate urgency of containing the menace of nuclear proliferation.” (David Kennedy, Professor of History Emeritus, Stanford University)“A richly detailed account of one of the most important issues of our time, The Partnership should be on the bedside of every presidential candidate, national affairs journalist and engaged citizen.” (Tom Brokaw) Read more See all Editorial Reviews
T**N
Good Read, Impossible Quest
Great read and worth it just for the extended bio's of these five who lived interesting lives.But the quest to ban nuclear weapons has a pretty strong feel of Don Quixote. It's not clear anyone now in power in any of the nuclear weapon states match their fervor for the quest.And it just may be the lack of interest is because of something the author was either too polite to bring up with the five or just not be aware of.During the Cold War the U.S. renounced the use of biological warfare. We physically shut down and then dismantled our bioweapons programs and destroyed our stocks of these weapons. The Soviet Union signed the Biological Weapons Convention treaty in 1975 and agreed to do the same. Instead, the Soviets hid their program and in violation of the disarmament treaty they signed began a massive buildup of weaponized biological agents - anthrax, smallpox, etc.The Soviet Union built a weapons program that was as large as their nuclear weapons program - except we knew _nothing_ about it. Nothing. They were able to hide a weapons program that had ~65,000 thousand people working on it without us knowing about it, let alone talking about ending it (because they claimed they already had.) See "The Soviet Biological Weapons Program: A History" by Leitenberg, Zilinskas and Kuhn.Our intelligence system failed. Our arms control treaties were negotiated with someone lying to our faces and laughing behind our backs. The consequences for our country and the world could have been horrific.These five cold warriors were intimately involved with that failure of intelligence and those arms reduction treaties. I am all for any program that results in the massive reduction of weaponizable fissile material. However, at a minimum these five should address why if we couldn't see a weapons program as large as the Soviet Bioweapons program, why it won't happen again on the path to nuclear abolition.
L**A
I wish this book was more interesting to the general reader!
One has to be VERY interested in the reasoning behind these scientists work to ban the bomb to read this book. Their hard work and sacrifices did not have the desired effect, after all. The bomb is here to stay, and woe to us if terrorists get the raw materials to build even a, "dirty," bomb with a conventional explosive!
R**R
The Partnership
Taubman sheds a lot of light on the progression of these men's careers and how they came to advocate nuclear disarmament and abolition of these relics of the Cold War. He added quite a bit more to what transpired at Reykjavik between Reagan & Gorbachev when we lost another "best chance" to eliminate the nuclear threat we all face. Nuclear weapons no longer serve any rational purpose or have any military utility, and Schultz, Kissinger, Nunn, Perry, and Drell who were all Cold Warriors now see the dangers and futility of maintaining nuclear weapons in a changed world, and how the greater threat today is the possibility of nuclear terrorism unless all nations work together to safeguard and eliminate fissile material and warheads. A very good read, and I appreciated learning more about Sam Nunn's earlier life and career here in Middle Georgia. A must read for anyone in the anti-nuclear weapons advocacy.
A**R
Very important topic with lots of challenges to future leaders
Taubman does an excellent job of describing the main characters (Kissinger, Nunn, Perry and Schultz) and how they became interested in a world without nuclear weapons. Getting to zero is recognized as a very difficult challenge and Taubman has done a good job of discussing the pros and cons as he leads the reader through the thoughts of the "four horsemen". Good read.
R**S
Fascinating inside look at our nations nuclear policies
This book is fascinating. An inside look at 5 unlikely "Cold Warriors" how they rose to positions of power and influence and how they now use their celebrity to work towards a world without nuclear weapons. This book is full of interesting insights to the times that changed our lives and the leaders who looked to these men for advice on policy and technical maters. I found myself looking forward to my next free hour with this book. It is scholarly, insightful and very accessible, in fact entertaining from start to finish. Highly recommended!
R**E
Surprise info from insiders on our nuke program and effort to curtail nukes.
Infor i didn't know about problems with curtaining nukes, who could get their hands on plutonium, loose nukes unaccounted for and our leaders change of heart/mind with respect to limiting and destroying warheads.
S**N
Too much about too little.
I did not know much about the background and experiences of the "partners", so that was interesting. But, Ican't believe I read nearly 400 pages about the background to a couple op-ed pieces.
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