In this Book
- Armageddon Insurance: Civil Defense in the United States and Soviet Union, 1945–1991
- Book
- 2019
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: The New Cold War History
summary
The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon Insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe.
Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests.
Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright Page
- pp. i-vi
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xiv
- 1. Inauspicious Beginnings
- pp. 17-52
- 2. The Window of Survivability
- pp. 53-96
- 3. The “Oh My God!” Phase
- pp. 97-137
- 4. The Real Mineshaft Gap
- pp. 138-188
- 5. Strategy for Survival
- pp. 189-239
- Conclusion: Insurance Forgone
- pp. 240-254
- Bibliography
- pp. 295-314
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469645278
Related ISBN(s)
9781469645247, 9781469645254, 9781469645261, 9798890850928
MARC Record
OCLC
1060524523
Pages
338
Launched on MUSE
2019-01-05
Language
English
Open Access
No