Command and Control

Through the story of a gripping, minute-by-minute account of a terrifying nuclear weapon accident in the American heartland, famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser explores the inner workings of the most dangerous technology ever invented. Missile explosions, bomber crashes, short circuits, rogue officers, hydrogen bombs lost at sea - Command and Control describes the effort, since the dawn of the atomic age, to prevent nuclear weapons from being stolen, sabotaged, or detonated inadvertently.

Based on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents and scores of interviews with officers and nuclear technicians, Command and Control recounts a litany of nuclear accidents and close calls, and tells readers how to defuse an atomic bomb. Part techno-thriller, part secret history, part inquiry into the ability of so-called \"normal accidents\" to cause major catastrophes, Command and Control is a tour de force, and essential reading at a time when the nuclear threat seems once again to be growing. It's a cautionary tale for every nation that has weapons of mass destruction or seeks to obtain them. And it's a vivid, mind-blowing journey into a world of extraordinary secrets that until now has been hidden from view.