A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon

(Paperback)

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Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon The US-Soviet arms race, told through the story of a colorful and visionaryAmerican Air Force officer-melding biography, history, world affairs, and science to transportthe reader back and forth from individual drama to world stage. "Compulsively readable and important."-The New York Times Book Review In this never-before-told story, Neil Sheehan-winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award -- details American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever's quest to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, and describes American efforts to develop the unstoppable nuclear-weapon delivery system, the intercontinental ballistic missile, the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust rather than to be fired in anger. In a sweeping narrative, Sheehan brings to life a huge cast of some of the most intriguing characters of the cold war, including the brilliant physicist John Von Neumann, and the hawkish Air Force general, Curtis LeMay.

Reviews

Excellent. . . . Deeply researched, compulsively readable and important.
The New York Times Book Review

An important contribution to our understanding of those decades when the U.S. and U.S.S.R. held each otherand the worldin a balance of terror. . . . Engrossing.
Los Angeles Times

Utterly riveting reading. . . . Schriever is a fascinating person, and Sheehan [is] to be commended for his careful gathering of interviews and documents to put flesh on this most unexpected warrior.
San Francisco Chronicle

Even more thoroughly researched, bristling with facts and figures and faces, than A Bright Shining Lie.
San Antonio Express-News

A deep look at American defensive thinking in the Cold War. . . . Sheehans book is rich in cultural detail, beyond iconic moments of the Cold War as refracted through the lens of the missile race.
Newsday

An ambitious story. Sheehan tells it well.
Dallas Morning News

Absorbing. . . . Sheehan is a terrific reporter and an excellent writer, capable of weaving multiple storylines into a seamless narrative. . . . Unforgettable. . . . More than a worthy successor to A Bright Shining Light. . . . It is hard to imagine a more accomplished and informative expos of the deep gears grinding in the engine room of the Cold War.
The Oregonian

A success story, in which the military, or a part of it anyway, instead of becoming mired in a folly of its own creation, prevailed over bureaucracy and incompetence and probably averted catastrophe.
The New York Times

Fascinating. . . . Sheehans scope is vast, and the narrative proceeds with the measured beauty of a complex mathematical proof.
GQ

Neil Sheehan is a master of historical portraiture. His new book casts light on a critical but largely forgotten moment of the Cold War, with all the dazzling research and authority we have come to expect from him. Sheehan tells a fascinating story wonderfully vividly.
Sir Max Hastings

Schriever is a charismatic figure, and the supporting characters are fascinating, too.
The New Yorker

Schrievers part in the development of the ICBM is a story that needed to be told . . . and Sheehan tells it with enthusiasm.
The Boston Globe

Here, masterfully recounted, is the epic tale of the decisive scientific battle of the Cold Warfor supremacy of the skies and spacetold through the remarkable story of Air Force general Bennie Schriever. Once again, the legendary reporter Neil Sheehan has unearthed a hidden trove of the history of our time. . . . A stunning achievement.
Carl Bernstein

Sheehan does an excellent job of describing, in terms that a layman can follow, the technical challenges involved in developing an ICBM and how they were overcome.
Michael Dobbs, The Washington Post

A fascinating tale.
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Neil Sheehan has triumphed again in this sweeping and absolutely fascinating book. . . . Sheehan takes on the epic tale of how science, the military, and politics became interwoven during the Cold War. Its a crucially important topic, but also a colorful narrative tale filled with memorable characters such as Bennie Schriever and the geniuses he enlisted in his cause.
Walter Isaacson

A story of many characters, and some of the major ones, such as mathematician John von Neumann and Gen. Curtis LeMay, are very colorful. . . . There is much to like in this book. . . . Sheehans book helps make sense of things we know.
Seattle Times

In this amazing book, Neil Sheehan shows us how the grand movements of history turn on the character of individuals. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War is the gripping account of the events, largely hidden until now, that saved the Cold War from turning into Armageddon.
Anthony Lewis

Author Bio

Neil Sheehan is the author ofA Bright Shining Lie, which won the National Book Award in 1988 and the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1989. He spent three years in Vietnam as a war correspondent for United Press International andThe New York Timesand won numerous awards for his reporting. In 1971 he obtained the Pentagon Papers, which broughtThe New York Timesthe Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for meritorious public service. He died in 2021.