Burning the Sky

Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space

By: Mark Wolverton

Narrated by: John Lescault

After the Soviet Union proved to the United States that it possessed an operational intercontinental ballistic missile with the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, the world watched anxiously as the two superpowers engaged in a game of nuclear one-upmanship. Amid this rising tension, eccentric physicist Nicholas Christofilos brought forth an outlandish, albeit ingenious, idea to defend the US from a Soviet attack: detonating nuclear warheads in space to create an artificial radiation belt that would fry incoming ICBMs. Known as Operation Argus, this plan is the most secret and riskiest experiment in history, and classified details of these nuclear tests have been long obscured.

Combining his investigation of recently declassified documents with more than a decade of experience in researching and writing about the science of the Cold War, Mark Wolverton tells the unknown and controversial story of this scheme, chronicling Christofilos' unconventional idea from inception to execution, and examines the scientific, political, and environmental implications of Argus, as well as that of the atmospheric tests that followed.

Burning the Sky is an engrossing audiobook that will intrigue any lover of scientific or military history and will remind listeners why Project Argus remains frighteningly relevant nearly 60 years later.

©2018 Mark Wolverton (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Extreme detail Argus & beyond

It was good to learn more about Dr James van Allen and his role in this effort.

Great Listen

I grew up in the era. Parents worked at Los Alamos. I recall some of the names. Fills some holes fro that time

fantastic

this historical account is one of the best I've ever listened to. its a must have in the library.

Excellent..... EXCELLENT LISTEN!!!

For the science minded, those that worked as Cold War Worrier's, those who are interested in the Nuclear Age and how we got to where we are today....This is one book I'd certainly recommend.

Very interesting, but not very entertaining

This was not a bad read. The story was very interesting and it is one that I had never heard before. I thought that the author was much like Stephen King, another author I like a lot, but who I think must get paid by the word. In other words, it might have been a better book overall if it had been about half as long. The narrator was not very interesting to listen to either. Not bad, but not great. But for the story alone, it's a good read.