The Doomsday Machine

By: Daniel Ellsberg

Narrated by: Steven Cooper

At the same time former presidential advisor Daniel Ellsberg famously took the top-secret Pentagon Papers, he also took with him a chilling cache of top secret documents related to America's nuclear program in the 1960s. Here for the first time he reveals the contents of those documents and makes clear their shocking relevance for today.

The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg's hair-raising insider's account of the most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization, whose legacy - and renewal under the Obama administration - threatens the very survival of humanity. It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high-level access to them. No other insider has written so candidly of that long-classified history, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era. Ellsberg's analysis of recent research on nuclear winter shows that even a 'small' nuclear exchange would cause billions of deaths by global nuclear famine. Ellsberg, in the end, offers steps we can take under a new administration to avoid nuclear catastrophe.

Framed as a memoir, this thriller with cloak-and-dagger intrigue places Ellsberg back in his natural role as whistle-blower. It is a real-life Dr. Strangelove story but an ultimately hopeful - and powerfully important - audiobook.

©2017 Bloomsbury US (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Great

Assuming all the info is true, this is an illustrative and compelling work that makes us aware of present danger.

Excellent

This engrossing, scary, book should be read by everyone. Sadly it won’t have the impact the author hopes it will have, but if enough people read it maybe the movers and shakers at the top will at least try to resolve the problem which unbeknown to all of us, has been part of our lives for 70+ years.

Every American should read

A chilling and utterly sobering look behind the curtain. However terrible you may believe the threat of nuclear war is, you have underestimated it. Ellsberg is an insider since the Eisenhower administration who reveals the real dangers of the 2 nuclear doomsday machines currently still on a hair trigger. He gives a truly non partisan history and analysis that isn’t about Republicans or Democrats, Americans or Russians. It’s about humanity and our problem with nuclear bombs.

This book actually gives me hope. If more Americans read this, they will see that there IS a path to eliminating nuclear weapons that isn’t nieve—and in fact an urgent imperative is our species is to survive.

An Unbelievable Truth

Ellsberg is not viewed well by conservatives of which I am one. However, his report herein is the most sobering account of war planning I've read. you will be both frightened and angered at the hubris behind our nuclear planning. I'm driven to fact check his claims and to learn more about this important and secretive part of our defense.

Urgent for you to Read !

Behind the scenes planning for nuclear bomb use could destroy all civilization on Earth... not limited to the intended targets. Ellsberg worked in the White House with Top Secret clearances. He traveled to interview admirals and pilots in the field, who have ways to start nuclear war on their own without Presidental orders. We, as citizens of all nations, as well as policy planners, politicians, and military leaders, need to read (listen to) this book, in order to understand the background and operation of this dangerous and fragile system, so that we may carefully back out of it for the benefit of all of us.