-
The Bomb
- Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War
- Narrated by: Edward Bauer
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, Americas
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $22.67
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
2034
- A Novel of the Next World War
- By: Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, P.J. Ochlan, Vikas Adam, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two former military officers and award-winning authors comes a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034 - and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.
-
-
Meh....
- By Ronald A McBroom-Teasley on 03-10-21
By: Elliot Ackerman, and others
-
Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
SUPERB ON SO MANY LEVELS
- By Jeff on 03-11-14
By: Eric Schlosser
-
The End Is Always Near
- Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
- By: Dan Carlin
- Narrated by: Dan Carlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore? The questions themselves are both philosophical and like something out of The Twilight Zone.
-
-
Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Steven Glover on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
-
The Bomber Mafia
- A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
-
-
Listen to the same story on his podcast for free
- By Dustin on 04-28-21
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Button
- The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
- By: William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in an accessible and authoritative voice, The Button reveals the shocking tales and sobering facts of nuclear executive authority throughout the atomic age, delivering a powerful condemnation against ever leaving explosive power this devastating under any one person's thumb.
-
-
Essential reading for our time.
- By Rio Betz Parfrey on 09-07-21
By: William J. Perry, and others
-
Arsenals of Folly
- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan's famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes' detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.
-
-
overall outstanding
- By Thomas on 06-25-09
By: Richard Rhodes
-
2034
- A Novel of the Next World War
- By: Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, P.J. Ochlan, Vikas Adam, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two former military officers and award-winning authors comes a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034 - and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.
-
-
Meh....
- By Ronald A McBroom-Teasley on 03-10-21
By: Elliot Ackerman, and others
-
Command and Control
- Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America's nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved - and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind.
-
-
SUPERB ON SO MANY LEVELS
- By Jeff on 03-11-14
By: Eric Schlosser
-
The End Is Always Near
- Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
- By: Dan Carlin
- Narrated by: Dan Carlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The End Is Always Near, Dan Carlin looks at questions and historical events that force us to consider what sounds like fantasy; that we might suffer the same fate that all previous eras did. Will our world ever become a ruin for future archaeologists to dig up and explore? The questions themselves are both philosophical and like something out of The Twilight Zone.
-
-
Hardcore Histories Greatest Hits
- By Steven Glover on 10-31-19
By: Dan Carlin
-
The Bomber Mafia
- A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
-
-
Listen to the same story on his podcast for free
- By Dustin on 04-28-21
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Button
- The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump
- By: William J. Perry, Tom Z. Collina
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in an accessible and authoritative voice, The Button reveals the shocking tales and sobering facts of nuclear executive authority throughout the atomic age, delivering a powerful condemnation against ever leaving explosive power this devastating under any one person's thumb.
-
-
Essential reading for our time.
- By Rio Betz Parfrey on 09-07-21
By: William J. Perry, and others
-
Arsenals of Folly
- The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a narrative that moves like a thriller, Rhodes sheds light on the Reagan administration's unprecedented arms buildup in the early 1980s, as well as the arms-reduction campaign that followed, and Reagan's famous 1986 summit meeting with Gorbachev. Rhodes' detailed exploration of events of this time constitutes a prehistory of the neoconservatives. The story is new, compelling, and continually surprising - a revelatory re-creation of a hugely important era of our recent history.
-
-
overall outstanding
- By Thomas on 06-25-09
By: Richard Rhodes
-
The Dead Hand
- The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the Cold War, world superpowers amassed nuclear arsenals containing the explosive power of one million Hiroshimas. The Soviet Union secretly plotted to create the "Dead Hand," a system designed to launch an automatic retaliatory nuclear strike on the United States, and developed a fearsome biological warfare machine. President Ronald Reagan, hoping to awe the Soviets into submission, pushed hard for the creation of space-based missile defenses.
-
-
Eye opening
- By Brian on 11-16-10
By: David E. Hoffman
-
The Doomsday Machine
- By: Daniel Ellsberg
- Narrated by: Steven Cooper
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them.
-
-
Fascinating Insider Story
- By Terry Masters on 12-07-17
By: Daniel Ellsberg
-
Powers and Thrones
- A New History of the Middle Ages
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 24 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era—and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names—from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine—Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes listeners on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West.
-
-
Not as good as Jones' other works.
- By Tom Marshall on 12-20-21
By: Dan Jones
-
Gambling with Armageddon
- Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis
- By: Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Mining new sources and materials, and going far beyond the scope of earlier works on this critical face-off between the United States and the Soviet Union — triggered when Khrushchev began installing missiles in Cuba at Castro's behest....
-
-
Important History
- By J. B. Evans on 06-12-21
-
The Apocalypse Factory
- Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age
- By: Steve Olson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs.
-
-
Lacking in many aspects
- By Etienne on 08-27-20
By: Steve Olson
-
The Afghanistan Papers
- A Secret History of the War
- By: Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: Defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off-course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives.
-
-
Eye-Opening Book
- By David J Ray on 09-01-21
By: Craig Whitlock, and others
-
Stalin's War
- A New History of World War II
- By: Sean McMeekin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 24 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin’s War revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east.
-
-
Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By SPFJR on 04-21-21
By: Sean McMeekin
-
Minuteman
- A Technical History of the Missile That Defined American Nuclear Warfare
- By: David Stumpf
- Narrated by: Douglas R Pratt
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David K. Stumpf demystifies the intercontinental ballistic missile program that was conceived at the end of the Eisenhower administration as a key component of the US nuclear strategy of massive retaliation. Although its nuclear warhead may have lacked power relative to that of the Titan II, the Minuteman more than made up for this in terms of numbers and readiness to launch - making it the ultimate ICBM.
-
-
Enough with the acronyms!
- By Julie K. on 08-08-21
By: David Stumpf
-
Fire and Fury
- Inside the Trump White House
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff, Holter Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With extraordinary access to the West Wing, Michael Wolff reveals what happened behind-the-scenes in the first nine months of the most controversial presidency of our time in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Since Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, the country—and the world—has witnessed a stormy, outrageous, and absolutely mesmerizing presidential term that reflects the volatility and fierceness of the man elected Commander-in-Chief.
-
-
Great story but...
- By Gina on 05-08-18
By: Michael Wolff
-
Twilight of Democracy
- The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else.
-
-
Reductive and simplistic
- By Erik C on 08-16-20
By: Anne Applebaum
-
The Hundred-Year Marathon
- China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
- By: Michael Pillsbury
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the US government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise - and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world's leading superpower.
-
-
Eye Opening
- By Tim L Erwin on 07-26-18
-
The 300
- The Inside Story of the Missile Defenders Guarding America Against Nuclear Attack
- By: Daniel Wasserbly
- Narrated by: Neal Bledsoe
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Comprised of just 300 soldiers, the United States Army’s 100th Missile Defense Brigade and 49th Missile Defense Battalion utilize sophisticated and cutting-edge technology to monitor the skies and seas surrounding the country and shield 300 million Americans against any potential nuclear threat. Named for the number of Spartan warriors who defended Greece at the Battle of Thermopylae, these vigilant individuals endure rigorous, always-evolving regimens to maintain peak efficiency in the event of an actual nuclear strike.
-
-
A great introduction to a small but incredibly viral organization.
- By Kody Kuczynski on 02-14-21
By: Daniel Wasserbly
Publisher's Summary
From the author of the classic The Wizards of Armageddon and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes the definitive history of American policy on nuclear war - and Presidents’ actions in nuclear crises - from Truman to Trump.
Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories - based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents - of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today.
Kaplan’s historical research and deep reporting will stand as the permanent record of politics. Discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaplan presents the unthinkable in terms of mass destruction and demonstrates how the nuclear war reality will not go away, regardless of the dire consequences.
What listeners say about The Bomb
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard L. Hubbell
- 02-06-20
Excellent, important book, bad narration.
The book is fascinating. I’ve been in the government for years, and this is an important history of which I was unaware. And a frightening story it is. The insanity of how willing the military was to nonchalantly use nuclear weapons at the beginning of any repeat any conflict is frightening. The same issues remain today.
An excellent book, with an important and timely message. Highly recommended.
The narration, unfortunately, is pretty bad. It’s clear the narrator knows nothing about the subject. For example, the acronym SAC for Strategic Air Command is called “SAC” (pronounced like “sack”); here the narrator spells it the letters, like with the FBI. This is a small error, but since SAC is the major player in this history it becomes increasing irritating and each times he makes the error it is a constant reminder the narrator knows nothing about the subject. They clearly did not bother to check with somebody familiar with the subject.
Second, like too many narrators of non/fiction, he reads it as if he feels the need to make it dramatic: rising and falling pitch, dramatic pauses, etc. Instead of just letting the words speak for themselves, he treats it like reading a story to an audience who need to be entertained.
This has happened to me before. It’s my own fault. From now on I’m going to listen to the sample before buying.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Aero91
- 03-06-20
Was good until the author started lecturing
until author started lecturing Orange man bad. I don't listen to history books to hear about current presidents. in 20 years we will see how the current administration actually performed.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sam Engelhard
- 04-29-20
Political Hit Piece!-Save Your Money and Time!
The books research was solid and well reasoned until the mid to late 70s. The authors political leanings became very apparent. The sycophantic ravings of Obama's foreign policy triumphs have little to do with what was actually happening in the world at that time. As well as the first use of foul language in the book being reserved for Trump. All in all i struggled through the last 3 chapters of the book so that I could write a review and characterize how truly poor the book is and recommend others save their money and time.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rachelle Dietz
- 03-06-20
Mild Trump bashing
Little disappointed I didn't see the ending was a Trump bashing book. That's too bad.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 10-13-20
disappointment. unprofessional.
lost me after 10 minutes. political, inaccurate at best, over sentimental and shallow. a shame to pay for such a thing.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carol Wood
- 07-08-20
Not an real policy book.
This was only a political piece. Obvious hatred toward Conservatism and nuclear weapons (Which have kept the peace a good long time). The bias was palpable, which only leads to suspect of the authors real purpose. If you really want true policy, stay away.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C.W.O.
- 02-27-20
Good summary of the topic some interesting historical insights.
An interesting book, and if the listener is interested in the topic, a compelling listen. It explains how national nuclear weapons policy evolved, after development and use during WWII; Truman’s decision to place initial control in civil hands under the AEC; the consequence of loss of monopoly after the Berlin crisis; massive retaliation on civil population (where leadership and war industries existed); counter force, focusing on potential first strike in order to destroy Soviet attack capacity; the development of the Single Integrated Operating Plan (SIOP) that produces its own strange logic, and, perhaps by design ignored successive presidential guidance on the subject until late in the Cold War, and many other interesting twists and turns. One of the biggest surprise is the author’s apparent assessment that some of our presidential leaders perceived as doves (Carter, Clinton, and to a lesser degree Obama) have been more successful at nonproliferation efforts than some of our perceived Republican hawks. Indeed, it describes circumstances concerning North Korea during the run up to the Iraq War, which is the best evidence I’ve heard yet for avoiding what some have called wars of choice, and I was there and supported the effort. The book, however, seemed surprisingly kind to Reagan and Bush and complimentary of Obama, but if you are a Trump fan, you probably wont appreciate the author’s characterization of him in the last chapter. To be clear, this book covers the topic described. The author’s discussion and characterization of presidential leadership is a minor and probably inevitable part of the story, as the office of president provides the final guidance on setting nuclear weapons policy, and the person of the president is vested with the ultimate power to decide if and when to use such weapons. As the world returns to an era of potential armed conflict between Great Powers, the US, Russia and China, this book should be of interest to any concerned citizen seeking to understand the policy, and remaining areas of debate: first strike or no first strike, development and use of tactical theater nuclear weapons to counter Russia’s development of the same. All in all, a good listen. My only disappointment is that the author offered no comment on how developing weapons technologies, hypersonic missiles, which would seem to threaten land based ICBMs and aircraft carriers, and super fast nuclear armed torpedos, which could possibly threaten out boomer fleet, affected current strategy. Maybe in a second book.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frank
- 02-25-20
Eye opening
I've been opposed to nuclear weapons since I saw the pictures of charred children in Japan. What's so horrifying is just how poorly these weapons have been managed, and how the turf wars between the service branches caused bloat and waste. I'm also horrified to learn that nuclear weapons are no longer under civilian control.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jonathan Markins
- 05-07-22
good until last 2 chapters
ch 10 might as well have been written by obama himself. he walks on water. nothing about Benghazi, nothing about the billions he gave to Iran for.. nothing. ch 11 sounds like CNN wrote it. Trump a crazy warmonger
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JJ
- 04-24-22
Good book, narration bad
The narration is very frustrating and distracting. It’s read with over done and poor theatrics. This isn’t necessary in a non-fiction books. This is pushing me toward only buying non-fiction when read by the author.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 11-19-21
Shocking
Very interesting and at times shocking! How close we have been to total annihilation and how crazy the planners where..
If you find the cold war interesting, this book should be on your list.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Thermonuclear
- 06-26-20
An alternative to the usual historical views
This book looked at the politics behind the use of nuclear weapons, and moreover the men and women who would decide to use them, and against whom. I enjoyed this alternate view very much. normally i like technical accounts of the weapons development, but this is a very interesting listen.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Luke
- 02-26-20
The most important book you can read today
This book clearly demonstrates how a rational understanding of the present is impossible without knowledge of history.