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Eve of Destruction

The inside story of our dangerous nuclear world

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Eve of Destruction

By: John Hughes-Wilson
Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
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US President Harry Truman evidently understood the terrifying power of atomic weaponry, but no one could have realised its full potential when he ordered the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Those military attacks, along with the disasters at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear reactors, might come to mind at the mention of nuclear destruction, but the majority of the events recorded in this book are entirely unknown to most people. This book records the facts - many of them still shrouded in secrecy - which show a worrying truth: we have teetered precariously on the brink of Armageddon far more frequently than the general public realises.

Since that first and last atomic war in 1945, there have been a terrifying number of nuclear accidents and mishaps, from the careless or accidental to the genuinely intentional and only narrowly averted. Despite the catastrophic nature of any nuclear conflict, we have come to the very borders of such a situation eight times since the 1960s. These were potential conflicts, but there have been other accidents, such as the reactor meltdown at the nuclear generating plant at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979, or the 'Palomares Incident' in 1966, when a USAF B-52 bomber crashed after a mid-air collision, dropping four hydrogen bombs on Spanish soil . . .

Eve of Destruction is a warning from history - recent history. It is a call to sit up and listen, and to take note of the very real danger of nuclear catastrophe. It is a timely and important book because, after all, the future of our planet has to concern us all. 20th Century Military Modern Weapons & Warfare War Air Force
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Excellent book and well read but some funny pronciations of place names but they don't take away from the book and its serious history

Good audiobook

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It was a page turner for sure. the author tried to go through it logically and it was generally well laid out. I got a little lost at some stage but considering it was some well known topics the author kept me wanting to know more.

Good listen with new material not common knowledge

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It's real, it's frighteningly real. It's controlled by people like you and me, people who can make errors.

It's also available, to those that have the means, to terrorists and factions that don't care a jot for humanity.

It is, the destroyer of worlds......

This book shouldn't be read to scare, it should be read to educate and help future generations understand the need to protect others from such unholy power.

Frightening.

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A must read for anyone in places of power. A hopelessly sobering read for the majority of us humans not consumed by power & control. This book lays bare the double edge sword of our nuclear world and should be read in schools.

Soberingly interesting.

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I have knowledge on some events described, but this book did add extra information and context. Narration volume did jump around a lot, sometimes even mid-sentence. If you can get past that, it is worth a listen.

Interesting topics

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