Vintage
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon
Key Metrics
- Neil Sheehan
- Vintage
- Paperback
- 9780679745495
- 8 X 5.28 X 1.14 inches
- 1.16 pounds
- Biography & Autobiography > Military
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The US-Soviet arms race, told through the story of a colorful and visionary American Air Force officer--melding biography, history, world affairs, and science to transport the reader back and forth from individual drama to world stage.
Compulsively readable and important. --The New York Times Book Review
In this never-before-told story, Neil Sheehan--winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award -- details American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever's quest to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, and describes American efforts to develop the unstoppable nuclear-weapon delivery system, the intercontinental ballistic missile, the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust rather than to be fired in anger.
In a sweeping narrative, Sheehan brings to life a huge cast of some of the most intriguing characters of the cold war, including the brilliant physicist John Von Neumann, and the hawkish Air Force general, Curtis LeMay.
Author Bio
Neil Sheehan, the author and Vietnam War correspondent who acquired the secret history of the war, known as the Pentagon Papers for The New York Times, died last week due to complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 84.
Sheehan covered the war in the 1960s and later wrote what many regard as the definitive book about the war, "A Bright Shining Lie." It tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the life of John Paul Vann, a lieutenant colonel in the army who devoted decades to the war both as a military officer and a civilian, despite his grave doubts about the American cause and our Vietnamese allies. Sheehan spent 16 years on the book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction. Terry spoke with Neil Sheehan in 1988 when "A Bright Shining Lie" was published.
Source: NPR.org
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