Lives in the Balance: The Cold War and American Politics, 1945-1991

CONTENTS
Publication Data
Backcover
Motto
Preface
Chapter 1: TOTALITARIANISM 1
    • What is Freedom? 2 
    • Life in a Dictatorship 6 
    • The Nature of Totalitarianism 7 
    • The Soviet Union: 1917-1984 9 
    • Totalitarian Foreign Policies 23 (Soviet Foreign Policies: 1917-1984 /  China and Tibet: 1950-1991 /  Sparta and the City States of Ancient Greece) 
    • The Soviet Union, 1985-1991: End of an Era 31 
    • The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency 36 
    • Summary 39 
Chapter 2: CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEAR WAR 42
    • Types of Nuclear Bombs 42 
    • Effects of a Single Nuclear Explosion 44 (Ultraviolet Pulse  /  Electromagnetic Pulse  /  Heat  /  Blast  /  Ionizing Radiation  /  Hiroshima) 
    • Effects of a Large Nuclear Explosion 54 
    • Effects of a Limited Nuclear War 57 
    • Consequences of Nuclear War 57 (Direct Consequences  /  Indirect Consequences) 
    • Reality of Nuclear Peril 69 
    • Summary 76 
Chapter 3: COSTS OF THE ARMS RACE 78
    • Military Costs 78 
    • Conventional Wars 81 
    • Economic and Human Costs 82 
    • Environmental Costs 84 
    • Moral and Psychological Costs 86 
    • Militarism, Imperialism, and Plutodemocracy 86 
    • The Arms Race or Totalitarianism? 89 
    • Summary 90 
Chapter 4: WEAPONS OF THE COLD WAR 92
    • A Note on Military Jargon 92 
    • Conventional Weapons 93 
    • Chemical and Biological Weapons 94 
    • Nuclear Bombs 95 
    • Delivery Vehicles 95 (Bombers and Cruise Missiles  /  Ballistic Missiles ) 
    • Strategic Requirements of Nuclear Weapons and Delivery Vehicles 97 
    • Command, Control, and Communication 98 
    • Satellites 99 
    • Summary 100 
Chapter 5: STRATEGIC THINKING IN THE UNITED STATES 102
    • Two Interpretations of Western Military and Foreign Policies 102 (Deterrence  /  Brinkmanship) 
    • Victory in the 1980s? 108 
    • Future Victory? 109 
    • New Nuclear Weapons? 113 
    • A Window of Vulnerability? 115 
    • Launch Under Attack? 118 
    • Nuclear Retaliation? 119 
    • Concluding Remarks 120 
    • Summary 121 
Chapter 6: THE MILITARY BALANCE 123
    • Overkill 123 
    • A Note on the Reliability of Data 126 
    • The Nuclear Balance 129 (Number of Deliverable Nuclear Bombs /  Explosive Yield  /  Survivability of Nuclear Weapons  /  Defensive Measures  /  The Overall Nuclear Balance ) 
    • The Conventional Balance 137 (Standing Armies and Ground Forces  /  Airplanes  /  Tanks  /  Navies  / Interventionary Forces ) 
    • Other Factors Affecting the Military Balance 142 (Technology  /  National Economies  /  Democracy  /  Allies  /  Internal Dissension  /  Homeland Invasion  /  Organizational Inefficiencies  /  Additional Soviet Advantages) 
    • Concluding Remarks 152 
    • Summary 152 
Chapter 7: HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR 155
    • Peace or War? 156 
    • Atomic Secrecy 167 
    • The Baruch Plan 169 
    • Developing the H-Bomb 171 
    • The Moment of Hope: May 10, 1955 172 
    • The Comprehensive Test Ban 174 
    • The 1980s 178 
    • General Characteristics of the Arms Race 185 
    • Summary 193 
Chapter 8: BRINKMANSHIP AND IMPERIALISM? 195
    • Nuclear Diplomacy 195 
    • American Intervention in the Third World 202 American Nuclear and Third World 
    • Policies: An Appraisal 218 
    • Summary 221 
Chapter 9: ROOTS OF COLLECTIVE MISBEHAVIOR 223
    • Organizational Characteristics 225 (Organizational Callousness  /  Organizational Self-Destructiveness  /  Institutional Decay  /  Institutional Rigidity  /  Institutional Inertia  /  Money and Politics  /  Revolving Doors  / Elections and Officials) 
    • Information 243 (Corporate Media  /  Government  /  Experts  /  Education) 
    • Human Characteristics 257 (Individual Callousness  /  Indoctrinability  /  Conceptual Conservatism  /  Conformity /  Obedience to Authority  /  Other Human Failings) 
    • Summary 271 
Chapter 10: A SURGICAL REFORM STRATEGY 273 
    • Has Humanity a Future? 273 
    • Successful Reform Presupposes 
    • an Informed Public 275 
    • Forlorn Strategies 275 
    • A Surgical Reform Strategy 278 
    • Summary 283 
Notes and References 284
Index 309