Dark Sun

The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb

By: Richard Rhodes

Narrated by: Richard Rhodes

Length: 6 hrs

Publisher's summary

The author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb lays bare the secret heart of the Cold War.

Richard Rhodes' landmark history of the atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now, in this majestic new masterpiece of history, science, and politics, he tells for the first time the secret story of how and why the hydrogen bomb was made, and traces the path by which this supreme artifact of 20th-century technology became the defining issue of the Cold War.

From the day in 1941 when the first word of Anglo-American atomic-bomb research arrived in Moscow to the week of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, DARK SUN is full of unexpected -- and sometimes hair-raising -- revelations based on previously undisclosed Soviet and U.S. sources, including:

• How the Soviets were able to produce a carbon copy of the first U.S. atomic bomb
• How the SAC fought for independent control of U.S. nuclear weapons -- while flying deliberately provocative daytime missions over Soviet cities
• How the first and only direct nuclear confrontation between the superpowers was also very nearly the last

Following the lives of the atomic scientists on both sides of the Iron Curtain, Dark Sun is the definitive work on the hydrogen bomb, showing why the world wars that devastated the first half of the century can never happen again.

©1996 Richard Rhodes (P)2004 Simon & Schuster

Abridged

It would have been nice to have the full unabridged text. Otherwuse excellent. Thank you as always, Mr. Rhodes, for your impressive work.

Rich in National Security and Foreign Affairs

Historically and technically a tour de force. Provides an exceptional story of details, options and opinions present at the creation of our current/modern national and international security environment.

Brilliant and Chilling

I grew up in Merced, California, near Castle Air Force Base, which happened to be the first Strategic Air Command Base to get the B-52. The Cold War and its potential to turn as hot as the sun was the background to everything. Dark Sun took me back to those years, and it was not a pleasant stroll down memory lane. I had no clue that we came as close to nuclear war as we did—and at numerous times, not just during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And now the specter of nuclear war is rearing its head again… I had hoped we were done with that sort of dread.

This is an excellent and sobering book that is worth your time. I just wish Audible had the full version available rather than just this abridgment.

A political thriller

It explains quite a bit about how the arms race, detente, and MAD came to define international relations. Many of our current politicians would be well advised to read it.

explosive content

a master teacher is always enthusiastic!
and here you learn a lesson not cheaply forgotten !

A little tough going but worth it

Fascinating book. I wish it were available in an unabridged version. Some of the technical descriptions of the various bomb designs are a little hard going. You really need diagrams to follow them. But the descriptions of the people and politics were excellent. The author turns out to be an exceptionally good narrator. If you want to learn something about arguably the most important era in modern history then check out this book.

abridged I think?

I think this audible version is abridged? it was a good listen either way. just super short.

One of a kind. Very good, well researched and well written.

One of a kind. Very good, well researched and well written. This non-fiction complements Richard Rhodes book on Trinity.

eh

it was ok. but it never really gave the level of detail that made the first book so overwhelmingly good.

Abridged

In paperback this is a worthy sequel to The Making of the Atomic Bomb but in this form it is neutered.