On Thermonuclear War

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On Thermonuclear War is a book by Herman Kahn, a military strategist at the Rand Corporation. It is a controversial treatise on the nature and theory of war in the thermonuclear age. In it, Kahn calmly discusses the strategic doctrines of nuclear war and its effect on the international balance of power. Widely read by both sides of the cold war, it is noteworthy for its views on the lack of credibility of a purely thermonuclear deterrent and how a country could "win" a nuclear war. Kahn also covers other weapons of mass destruction. It is also the first known use of the term megadeath. Kahn's stated purpose in writing the book was "avoiding disaster and buying time, without specifying the use of this time." The title of the book is inspired by the classic volume On War, by Carl von Clausewitz.

Of the book, Hubert H. Humphrey said: "New thoughts, particularly those which contradict current assumptions, are always painful for the human mind to contemplate. On Thermonuclear War is filled with such thoughts."

First published in 1960 by the Princeton University Press (ISBN 0-313-20060-2), it was republished as a paperback by Transaction Publishers in 2007 (ISBN 978-1-4128-0064-0).

[edit] Source

• Herman Kahn (1960), On Thermonuclear War. Princeton University Press ISBN 0-313-20060-2

[edit] External links

• Essays about and by Herman Kahn
• Kahn's "escalation ladder"
• Article, "Herman Kahn's Doomsday Machine"
• RAND Corporation unclassified papers by Herman Kahn, 1948-59
• Hudson Institute unclassified articles and papers by Herman Kahn, 1962-84
• Philanthropy, "The History of Kahnsciousness"