Eric Schlosser is the author of The New York Times bestsellers Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and The Nation.
***A New York Times Notable Book of 2013***
Time magazine:
A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons
in the U.S. fascinating. (Lev Grossman)
Jonathan Franzen, The Guardian
Schlosser's book reads like a thriller, but it's masterfully
even-handed, well researched, and well organised. Either he's a
natural genius at integrating massive amounts of complex
information, or he worked like a dog to write this book. You
wouldn't think the prospect of nuclear apocalypse would make for a
reading treat, but in Schlosser's hands it does.
Associated Press
Gripping... A real-life adventure that s every bit as fascinating
as a Tom Clancy thriller... Schlosser is clearly on top of his game
with Command and Control. His stories of nuclear near-misses
inspire trepidation, and his description of Cold War political
machinations provide hints about the conversations Pentagon
officials must be having nowadays when they review the country s
war strategies.
Financial Times
Command and Control ranks among the most nightmarish books written
in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair to stand
at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so
incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after
relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the
edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind... a work
with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel
Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full
stretch he has spent time years researching, interviewing,
understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the
deepest import.
Los Angeles Times
Deeply reported, deeply frightening a techno-thriller of the first
order.
The Guardian
The strength of Schlosser's writing derives from his ability to
carry a wealth of startling detail (did you know that security at
Titan II missile bases was so lapse you could break into one with
just a credit card?) on a confident narrative path.
San Francisco Chronicle
"Perilous and gripping Schlosser skillfully weaves together an
engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear
weapons safety The story of the missile silo accident unfolds with
the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of 24."
The New Yorker
An excellent journalistic investigation of the efforts made since
the first atomic bomb was exploded, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico,
on July 16, 1945, to put some kind of harness on nuclear weaponry.
By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a
huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific
papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on
nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than
fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has
interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute
account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in
1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller Command
and Control is how nonfiction should be written. (Louis Menand)
New York Times Book Review
Disquieting but riveting fascinating Schlosser s readers (and he
deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people
he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear
war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human
wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need
many more of it in the years to come.
Mother Jones
Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read,
Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's broken arrows
(nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical this stuff is
top secret, after all but the book is beyond relevant. It's
critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on
hair-trigger alert... Command and Control reads like a
character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting,
extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of
Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches,
dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional
incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have
nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions.
Vanity Fair
Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in Command and Control, a
powerful expose about America s nuclear weapons.
Dallas Morning News
Eric Schlosser s Command and Control is a sobering and frightening
yet fascinating account of the unbelievable peril posed by
repeatedly mishandled American nuclear weapons .The tale is
riveting from start to finish. In the first few chapters, I found
myself so repeatedly astounded by Schlosser s recounting of
accidents in the early 1950s, I thought: Certainly, it can t get
any worse than this. But it kept getting worse so much so that I
started folding the corners of each page that contained what seemed
like the most egregious examples of nuclear mishaps and horrors. I
now have a 632-page book with roughly a quarter of the pages folded
over for reference. Command and Control is truly a monumental,
Pulitzer-quality work.
Bloomberg
The book alternates between sections describing the accident with
sections on the history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Schlosser s
excellent eye for detail, which he displayed in his first book,
Fast Food Nation, is also in evidence here....epic pop
history."
Publishers Weekly (starred):
"Nail-biting... thrilling... Mixing expert commentary with
hair-raising details of a variety of mishaps, [Eric Schlosser]
makes the convincing case that our best control systems are no
match for human error, bad luck, and ever-increasing technological
complexity."
Kirkus Reviews (starred):
"Vivid and unsettling... An exhaustive, unnerving examination of
the illusory safety of atomic arms."
Lee H. Hamilton, former U.S. Representative; Co-Chair, Blue Ribbon
Commission on America s Nuclear Future; Director, the Center on
Congress at Indiana University:
The lesson of this powerful and disturbing book is that the world s
nuclear arsenals are not as safe as they should be. We should take
no comfort in our skill and good fortune in preventing a nuclear
catastrophe, but urgently extend our maximum effort to assure that
a nuclear weapon does not go off by accident, mistake, or
miscalculation. "
***A "New York Times" Notable Book of 2013***
"Time "magazine:
A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons
in the U.S. fascinating. (Lev Grossman)
Jonathan Franzen, "The Guardian"
Schlosser's book reads like a thriller, but it's masterfully
even-handed, well researched, and well organised. Either he's a
natural genius at integrating massive amounts of complex
information, or he worked like a dog to write this book. You
wouldn't think the prospect of nuclear apocalypse would make for a
reading treat, but in Schlosser's hands it does.
"Associated Press"
Gripping... A real-life adventure that s every bit as fascinating
as a Tom Clancy thriller... Schlosser is clearly on top of his game
with "Command and Control." His stories of nuclear near-misses
inspire trepidation, and his description of Cold War political
machinations provide hints about the conversations Pentagon
officials must be having nowadays when they review the country s
war strategies.
"Financial Times"
"Command and Control" ranks among the most nightmarish books
written in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair
to stand at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so
incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after
relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the
edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind... a work
with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel
Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full
stretch he has spent time years researching, interviewing,
understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the
deepest import.
"Los Angeles Times"
Deeply reported, deeply frightening a techno-thriller of the first
order.
"The Guardian"
The strength of Schlosser's writing derives from his ability to
carry a wealth of startling detail (did you know that security at
Titan II missile bases was so lapse you could break into one with
just a credit card?) on a confident narrative path.
"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Perilous and gripping Schlosser skillfully weaves together an
engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear
weapons safety The story of the missile silo accident unfolds with
the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of "24.""
"The New Yorker"
An excellent journalistic investigation of the efforts made since
the first atomic bomb was exploded, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico,
on July 16, 1945, to put some kind of harness on nuclear weaponry.
By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a
huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific
papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on
nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than
fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has
interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute
account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in
1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller "Command
and Control" is how nonfiction should be written. (Louis
Menand)
"New York Times Book Review"
Disquieting but riveting fascinating Schlosser s readers (and he
deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people
he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear
war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human
wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need
many more of it in the years to come.
"Mother Jones"
Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read,
Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's broken arrows
(nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical this stuff is
top secret, after all but the book is beyond relevant. It's
critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on
hair-trigger alert... "Command and Control" reads like a
character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting,
extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of
Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches,
dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional
incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have
nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions.
"Vanity Fair"
Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in "Command and Control," a
powerful expose about America s nuclear weapons.
"Dallas Morning News"
Eric Schlosser s "Command and Control" is a sobering and
frightening yet fascinating account of the unbelievable peril posed
by repeatedly mishandled American nuclear weapons .The tale is
riveting from start to finish. In the first few chapters, I found
myself so repeatedly astounded by Schlosser s recounting of
accidents in the early 1950s, I thought: Certainly, it can t get
any worse than this. But it kept getting worse so much so that I
started folding the corners of each page that contained what seemed
like the most egregious examples of nuclear mishaps and horrors. I
now have a 632-page book with roughly a quarter of the pages folded
over for reference. "Command and Control" is truly a monumental,
Pulitzer-quality work.
"Bloomberg"
The book alternates between sections describing the accident with
sections on the history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Schlosser s
excellent eye for detail, which he displayed in his first book,
"Fast Food Nation," is also in evidence here....epic pop
history."
"Publishers Weekly" (starred):
"Nail-biting... thrilling... Mixing expert commentary with
hair-raising details of a variety of mishaps, [Eric Schlosser]
makes the convincing case that our best control systems are no
match for human error, bad luck, and ever-increasing technological
complexity."
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred):
"Vivid and unsettling... An exhaustive, unnerving examination of
the illusory safety of atomic arms."
Lee H. Hamilton, former U.S. Representative; Co-Chair, Blue Ribbon
Commission on America s Nuclear Future; Director, the Center on
Congress at Indiana University:
The lesson of this powerful and disturbing book is that the world s
nuclear arsenals are not as safe as they should be. We should take
no comfort in our skill and good fortune in preventing a nuclear
catastrophe, but urgently extend our maximum effort to assure that
a nuclear weapon does not go off by accident, mistake, or
miscalculation. "
"Time "magazine
"A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons
in the U.S. ... fascinating." (Lev Grossman)
"Associated Press"
"Gripping....A real-life adventure that's every bit as fascinating
as a Tom Clancy thriller....Schlosser is clearly on top of his game
with "Command and Control." His stories of nuclear near-misses
inspire trepidation, and his description of Cold War political
machinations provide hints about the conversations Pentagon
officials must be having nowadays when they review the country's
war strategies."
"Financial Times"
""Command and Control" ranks among the most nightmarish books
written in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair
to stand at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so
incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after
relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the
edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind... a work
with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel...
Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full
stretch he has spent time - years - researching, interviewing,
understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the
deepest import."
"Los Angeles Times"
"Deeply reported, deeply frightening... a techno-thriller of the
first order."
"The Guardian"
"The strength of Schlosser's writing derives from his ability to
carry a wealth of startling detail (did you know that security at
Titan II missile bases was so lapse you could break into one with
just a credit card?) on a confident narrative path."
"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Perilous and gripping... Schlosser skillfully weaves together an
engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear
weapons safety... The story of the missile silo accident unfolds
with the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of
"24.""
"The New Yorker"
"An excellent journalistic investig
"New York Times Book Review"
"Disquieting but riveting... fascinating... Schlosser's readers
(and he deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the
people he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and
nuclear war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to
human wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly
need many more of it in the years to come."
"Mother Jones"
"Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read,
Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's 'broken arrows'
(nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical--this stuff is
top secret, after all--but the book is beyond relevant. It's
critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on
hair-trigger alert... "Command and Control" reads like a
character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting,
extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of
Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches,
dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional
incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have
nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous
occasions."
"Vanity Fair"
"Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in "Command and Control," a
powerful expose about America's nuclear weapons."
"Publishers Weekly" (starred):
"Nail-biting... thrilling... Mixing expert commentary with
hair-raising details of a variety of mishaps, [Eric Schlosser]
makes the convincing case that our best control systems are no
match for human error, bad luck, and ever-increasing technological
complexity."
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred):
"Vivid and unsettling... An exhaustive, unnerving examination of
the illusory safety of atomic arms."
Lee H. Hamilton, former U.S. Representative; Co-Chair, Blue Ribbon
Commission on America's Nuclear Future; Director, the Center on
Congress at Indiana University:
"The lesson of this powerful and distur
"Publishers Weekly" (starred):
"Nail-biting... thrilling... Mixing expert commentary with
hair-raising details of a variety of mishaps, [Eric Schlosser]
makes the convincing case that our best control systems are no
match for human error, bad luck, and ever-increasing technological
complexity."
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred):
"Vivid and unsettling... An exhaustive, unnerving examination of
the illusory safety of atomic arms."
Lee H. Hamilton, former U.S. Representative; Co-Chair, Blue Ribbon
Commission on America's Nuclear Future; Director, the Center on
Congress at Indiana University:
"The lesson of this powerful and disturbing book is that the
world's nuclear arsenals are not as safe as they should be. We
should take no comfort in our skill and good fortune in preventing
a nuclear catastrophe, but urgently extend our maximum effort to
assure that a nuclear weapon does not go off by accident, mistake,
or miscalculation."
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