Having read a fair number of books about the Cold War and its arms race, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much new information was in Schlosser's COMMAND AND CONTROL, and how well it was all woven into some excellent storytelling. Intentional use of nuclear weapons was a constant fear in the '50s-'80s, but in many ways scarier was the possibility for unintentional or mistaken use. Schlosser does a great job covering all the angles, from the monolithic SIOP that would nuke the world under any provocation, to nuclear weapon designs that risked criticality in fires or high-speed crashes.

Woven throughout is a look at the Damascus incident, an accident in the 1980s that foregrounds a lot of Schlosser's general concerns but also drags the narrative down. Schlosser will tell a bit of the story, jump to the history for a few chapters, and then skip back to Damascus. But each time, he has to reiterate and recap what's happened so far, drawing out the story even more. He also interviewed everyone he could find who was there, and is sure to let you know it by jumping to every POV. It is a crutch to make the abstract dangers of nuclear Armageddon more relatable, but Schlosser succeeds enough in the broad historical sweep that this incident ends up being the weakest part of the book by far—and annoying too, by the end.

Yet the book itself is excellent and important enough that this misstep doesn't mar the overall project. Highly recommended, especially if you follow it up with THE DEAD HAND, a look by David E. Hoffman at de-escalating the arms race in the '80s and '90s, and disposing of the dangerous materials accumulated in the process.