Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age

Description

In Almighty, Washington Post reporter Dan Zak answers these questions by reexamining America s love-hate relationship to the bomb, from the race to achieve atomic power before the Nazis did to the solemn 70th anniversary of Hiroshima. At a time of concern about proliferation in such nations as Iran and North Korea, the U.S. arsenal is plagued by its own security problems. Part historical adventure, part courtroom drama, part moral thriller, Almighty is essential reading as a new administration grapples with the political and existential issues of U.S. nuclear weaponry.

Dan Zak is a reporter for The Washington Post. He has written a wide range of news stories, narratives, and profiles while on local, national, and foreign assignments. He is from Buffalo, N.Y., and lives in Washington, D.C.

"Read Almighty. Its message is current and extremely urgent." -Huffington Post "This is a strangely captivating book-dark and utterly frightening...Zak's narrative is a perfectly measured blend of biography, suspense, and history. He skillfully uses the small, finite story of the Y-12 protest to explore our national identity as a people whose culture is now intimately connected with things nuclear." -Kai Bird, The New York Times Book Review "With nuns splashing blood, countries making pledges, diplomats working to reduce the size of world-destroying arsenals, suppliers cheering a new Cold War, Zak demonstrates that we're all in it together. And he's honest enough to report as well the hard truth that none of us yet knows how to get out of it alive." -Richard Rhodes, The Washington Post (author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb) "This book is essential reading for any American." -America Magazine "Centering on a single episode, a powerful declaration of conscience, a Washington Post reporter tells an intensely unsettling story about living with our nuclear arsenal. In July 2012, cutting through fences topped with razor wire and avoiding guards, guns, sensors, armored cars, and alarms, an 80-year-old nun, a Vietnam veteran, and a housepainter, all deeply religious, all affiliated with the pacifist Plowshares movement, broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the "Fort Knox of Uranium."... it's the moral convictions demonstrated by Zak's three holy fools that will remain with readers. A scrupulously reported, gracefully told, exquisitely paced debut." -Kirkus (starred review) "Zak takes the reader on a journey into the still-vibrant realm of the US nuclear arms complex. His guides are an aging nun, a house-painter and other everyday Americans who realize the senseless violence at the center of the nation's national security. A brilliant portrayal of these heroes of our time." -Kate Brown, author of Plutopia "Zak gracefully synthesizes the stories of the politicians and bureaucrats controlling stockpiles of weapons and those of the activists working to disarm them." -Publisher's Weekly