By Colby David
Everyone should read Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobson. Published earlier this year, this nonfiction book offers a terrifyingly realistic look into
what would happen if the United States was struck by a nuclear bomb. Jacobson writes, “Because the plans for General Nuclear War are among the most classified secrets held by the
United States government, this book, and the scenario it postulates, takes the reader up to the razor’s edge of what can legally be known.”
I first heard of this book when I saw Denis Villenueve, director of Dune, was in talks to bring it to the big screen. I couldn’t run to the bookstore fast enough. When I read the first pages, I expected a U.S. history lesson about Hiroshima and the Cold War. But Jacobson’s work is more than the typical historical nonfiction novel. It tells the story of one of our potential futures, where the world can come to an end with the press of one button. The book may be nonfiction, but the “scenario” of nuclear war is so surreal that it feels like fiction. I couldn’t stop turning the pages.
Jacobsen interviews and references dozens of former government officials, military leaders, and scientific experts who all held positions of U.S. Nuclear Command at some point. She combines this research into a depressing story where the U.S. is forced to retaliate after being destroyed, but in the end nobody wins. More than anything, however, this book is about people rather than weapons and mass destruction. Jacobsen highlights how citizens would
respond in such a tragedy, how the president would hesitate to fight back with nuclear power, and how the military generals created heartless plans that would sacrifice millions of innocent lives across the planet.
Nuclear War: A Scenario is a book that will stick with me for a long time. I couldn’t
believe how close we are to nuclear war everyday, and how many people are unaware of the information within its pages. I would strongly recommend this book to not just readers interested in politics or war, but to everyone. One of the most alarming lines in the book stated that the world could end while reading it. That is how fast war can start. It could start minutes after reading this book review.
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