Strategic Nuclear War: What the Superpowers Target and Why

(Hardback)

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Martel and Savage have made the unthinkable understandable. Their conclusions make one realize that no one really knows yet how to cope with strategic nuclear weapons, including those who make a career of doing just that.-James F. Dunnigan, author of How to Make War, Quick and Dirty Guide to War (with Austin Bay), and The Wargames Handbook.
Strategic Nuclear War represents a unique and welcome contribution to the study of nuclear strategy. Based on original methodology and careful empirical analysis this work reveals many of the most troubling and dangerous weaknesses in U.S. nuclear planning. The authors' dispassionate analysis bears out the most stark fear of the twentieth century: the growing risk of nuclear war in which there simply will be no victors.-Senator Gary Hart, D.-Colorado.
This is an excellent, well-written, and dispassionate analysis of nuclear weapons strategies by two experts in the field. The authors examine American and Soviet strategic nuclear forces and strategies and then, with the assistance of a computer, simulate realistic models of a strategic war between the two. Their data are accurate and their tables are helpful, as is the glossary. The book is well researched and stimulating, with extensive references and bibliography. A provocative afterword provides an interesting and challenging war game created by the authors and first played by a group of students at St. Anselm College. It is a timely simulation exercise that places the players in the roles of the decision makers. This is a book that deserves to be in university as well as professional libraries. It will also serve as a valuable text in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses of strategic and national defense. The authors deserve to be congratulated on a job well conceived and well executed.-Choice
"Martel and Savage have made the unthinkable understandable. Their conclusions make one realize that no one really knows yet how to cope with strategic nuclear weapons, including those who make a career of doing just that."-James F. Dunnigan, author of How to Make War, Quick and Dirty Guide to War (with Austin Bay), and The Wargames Handbook.
"Strategic Nuclear War represents a unique and welcome contribution to the study of nuclear strategy. Based on original methodology and careful empirical analysis this work reveals many of the most troubling and dangerous weaknesses in U.S. nuclear planning. The authors' dispassionate analysis bears out the most stark fear of the twentieth century: the growing risk of nuclear war in which there simply will be no victors."-Senator Gary Hart, D.-Colorado.
"This is an excellent, well-written, and dispassionate analysis of nuclear weapons strategies by two experts in the field. The authors examine American and Soviet strategic nuclear forces and strategies and then, with the assistance of a computer, simulate realistic models of a strategic war between the two. Their data are accurate and their tables are helpful, as is the glossary. The book is well researched and stimulating, with extensive references and bibliography. A provocative afterword provides an interesting and challenging war game created by the authors and first played by a group of students at St. Anselm College. It is a timely simulation exercise that places the players in the roles of the decision makers. This is a book that deserves to be in university as well as professional libraries. It will also serve as a valuable text in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses of strategic and national defense. The authors deserve to be congratulated on a job well conceived and well executed."-Choice

Author Bio

rtel /f William /i C.

age /f Paul /i L.