In To Kill Nations, Edward Kaplan traces the evolution of American strategic airpower and preparation for nuclear war from this early air-atomic era to a later period (1950–1965) in which the Soviet Union's atomic capability, accelerated by thermonuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, made American strategic assets vulnerable and gradually undermined air-atomic strategy. Kaplan throws into question both the inevitability and preferability of the strategic doctrine of MAD. He looks at the process by which cultural, institutional, and strategic ideas about MAD took shape and makes insightful use of the comparison between generals who thought they could win a nuclear war and the cold institutional logic of the suicide pact that was MAD. Kaplan also offers a reappraisal of Eisenhower's nuclear strategy and diplomacy to make a case for the marginal viability of air-atomic military power even in an era of ballistic missiles.

Koenigsberg shows how Hitler's thoughts about war generated the Holocaust. While some view Hitler as an anomaly, Koenigsberg shows how both the Holocaust and two World Wars grew out of an ideology located at the heart of Western civilization: that of nationalism. Based on belief in the absolute reality and profound significance of their nations, political leaders feel that they have a right to kill and to ask their people to die.

This thoughtful book explores much of the background to the strife the globe faces today. In particular, Christopher Catherwood shows how religion and national pride, which are supposed to be positive forces, can become perverted ideologies that arouse hatred, slaughter, and war.

“This is a brilliant and hardheaded book. It will frighten those who prefer not to dwell on the unthinkable and infuriate those who have taken refuge in stereotypes and moral attitudinizing.”—Gordon A. Craig, New York Times Book Review Originally published more than fifty years ago, this landmark book explores the ways in which military capabilities—real or imagined—are used, skillfully or clumsily, as bargaining power. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s new introduction to the work shows how Schelling’s framework—conceived of in a time of superpowers and mutually assured destruction—still applies to our multipolar world, where wars are fought as much online as on the ground.

Globalization guarantees the spread of new technologies, whether beneficial or destructive, and this proliferation reaches beyond North Korea, Iran, and other rogue states. Our greatest threat is a cunning tyrant who might gain a few weapons of mass destruction and annihilate a nation's government from within, assuming dictatorial power. The twentieth century offers vivid examples of tyrants who have exploited major national disasters by rallying violent followers and intimidating an entire nation. To explain how we have become so vulnerable, Fred Ikle turns to history. Some 250 years ago, science was freed from political and religious constraints, causing a cultural split. Since then, science has advanced at an accelerating pace while religion and politics have moved along a zigzag course. This divergence will widen and endanger the survival of nations. Drawing on his experience as a Washington insider, Ikle outlines the practical measures that could be implemented to help us avert catastrophe.

Drawing on a wide range of unpublished material and observations gathered from his visit to Yugoslavia in 1999, Michael Parenti challenges mainstream media coverage of the war, uncovering hidden agendas behind the Western talk of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and democracy.