A Short History Of Nuclear Folly: Mad Scientists, Dithering Nazis, Lost Nukes, and Catastrophic Cover-Ups

Description

In the spirit of Dr. Strangelove and The Atomic Cafe, Rudolph Herzog has here created a bleakly sardonic catalogue of atomic blunders and nuclear near-misses revealing the hushed-up and forgotten episodes in which the great powers have gambled with catastrophe. Rudolph Herzog is already well know as the historian behind the popular history title Dead Funny, which looked at humour in Nazi Germany. Now, he turns to the archives once again to produce an account that will raise important questions on international nuclear policy.

Rudolph Herzog is the author of Dead Funny- Telling Jokes in Hitler's Germany. His documentary on humor in the Third Reich, Laughing With Hitler, scored top audience ratings on German Channel 1 and was also broadcast on the BBC. Other film projects include the hit reality crime series The Heist, a collaboration with David Glover that aired on Channel 4 (U.K.), and The Agent, which investigates the Stasi's top nuclear spy and a double agent for the CIA. He is the son of the celebrated filmmaker Werner Herzog. Jefferson Chase is one of the foremost translators of German history. He has translated Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Thomas Mann, and G tz Aly, among many others.

Praise for A Short History of Nuclear Folly "The author and son of filmmaker Werner Herzog presents a sardonic, little-known history of misguided, accidental and irresponsible uses of nuclear technology." -Los Angeles Times "Shocking and vitally important." -Publishers Weekly "Unflinching . . . Herzog's use of the word 'folly' is an under statement." -The Village Voice "It is arguably not possible to imagine human stupidity on a grander scale than what Rudolph Herzog has stockpiled in his new book." -The Brooklyn Rail "A well-written, if tragic, account of how little nuclear weapons testers knew or were willing to account for." -Vice "Amusing . . . interesting and occasionally eye-popping." -Survival (The Journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies) "Herzog's study is a shocking and vitally important reminder that we live in an unsteady nuclear age." -Publishers Weekly "Looks at the seriocomic side of the history of nuclear experimentation after WWII . . . Alternately funny and scary but overall mostly scary, the book reminds us just how frightening the Cold War really was." -Booklist "Darkly funny low points in our nuclear past as well . . . more of-the-moment prognostications of what we can expect from our nuclear neighbors." -Toronto Star "For a book about such a heavy subject, A Short History of Nuclear Folly, keeps it quick and snappy and, dare I say, entertaining." -Philadelphia Review of Books "An eclectic, innovative approach to the bureaucratization of creativity during the Cold War." -The Los Angeles Review of Books "Meticulously researched and thrillingly told-reading this is as informative as it is spine-chillingly entertaining." -Die Zeit "A haunting and well phrased warning." -Focus Online "Rudolph Herzog's collection of the most incredible stories reads as a tour through the most polluted places on the globe." -Frankfurter Rundschau Praise for Rudolph Herzog's Dead Funny: Telling Jokes in Hitler's Germany "A concise, compelling book." -The Independent (UK) "Herzog, the son of the film-maker Werner Herzog, shares his father's curious and mordant wit." -The Financial Times "Dead Funny isn't just a book of wildly off-limits humor. Rather, it's a fascinating, heartbreaking look at power dynamics, propaganda, and the human hunger for catharsis." -The Atlantic, Best Books of 2012