Quick Synopsis

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And one of the triggers for that war would be a nuclear missile inbound toward the United States.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Every generation, a journalist has looked deep into the heart of the nuclear military establishment: the technologies, the safeguards, the plans, and the risks. These investigations are vital to how we understand the world we really live in—where one nuclear missile will beget one in return, and where the choreography of the world’s end requires massive decisions made on seconds’ notice with information that is only as good as the intelligence we have.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario explores this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, have been privy to the response plans, and have been responsible for those decisions should they have needed to be made. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch. It is essential reading, and unlike any other book in its depth and urgency.

Book Review

Nuclear War: A Scenario explores the worst-case scenario of North Korea launching an intercontinental ballastic missle at the U.S. and the minutes that follow. Annie Jacobsen methodically details this ticking-clock scenario based on interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, created the response plans, and been responsible for those decisions should they need to be made.

While this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I like to always be prepared for and educated about the worst case scenario. Jacobsen does just that by delineating by-the-minute actions once a nuclear weapon has been launched. Her thoroughly researched account describes systems in place from the technology that detects a nuclear missile to those the U.S. President and government take in response to a thousand years after.

Nuclear War: A Scenario is not a book that you necessarily enjoy. Instead, its purpose is to inform and warn average people what a nuclear war would entail. Personally, I would have liked Jacobsen to include a bit more about what happens to the people on the ground who do not have official duties in this scenario. This pertinent detail that affects the average reader was not fleshed out to my liking. Otherwise, this book includes anything and everything you could want to know about the events of a nuclear war ending our existence as we know it.

Jacobsen manages to paint an exacting picture in a riveting manner without boring readers. Never once while reading Nuclear War did my eyes glaze over or attention divert. However, I did find the book’s structure to be slightly difficult to follow as an audiobook. When each chapter is anchored by a number of minutes post-launch, it is easy to forget the overall timeline. I think it was a very interesting way to structure a book, but I think even having the amount of time that has passed since the last chapter would have been helpful.

Overall, Nuclear War: A Scenario is essential reading for anyone who has every worried what may happen in the event of a nuclear bomb, how we would respond, and what the consequences truly are. I definitely recommend this urgent and necessary account.