Bücher veröffentlicht von W. W. Norton & Company

During his impeachment proceedings, Richard Nixon boasted, "I can go into my office and pick up the telephone and in twenty-five minutes seventy million people will be dead." Nixon was accurately describing not only his own power but also the power of every American president in the nuclear age.Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon each contemplated using nuclear weapons-Eisenhower twice, Kennedy three times, Johnson once, Nixon four times. Whether later presidents, from Ford to Obama, considered using them we will learn only once their national security papers are released.In this incisive, masterfully argued new book, award-winning social theorist Elaine Scarry demonstrates that the power of one leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon-a possibility that remains very real even in the wake of the Cold War-deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social contract, and is fundamentally at odds with the deliberative principles of democracy.According to the Constitution, the decision to go to war requires rigorous testing by both Congress and the citizenry; when a leader can single-handedly decide to deploy a nuclear weapon, we live in a state of "thermonuclear monarchy," not democracy.The danger of nuclear weapons comes from potential accidents or acquisition by terrorists, hackers, or rogue countries. But the gravest danger comes from the mistaken idea that there exists some case compatible with legitimate governance. There can be no such case. Thermonuclear Monarchy shows the deformation of governance that occurs when a country gains nuclear weapons.In bold and lucid prose, Thermonuclear Monarchy identifies the tools that will enable us to eliminate nuclear weapons and bring the decision for war back into the hands of Congress and the people. Only by doing so can we secure the safety of home populations, foreign populations, and the earth itself.

Praised and condemned for its aggressive coverage of the Vietnam War, the American press has been both commended for breaking public support and bringing the war to an end and accused of misrepresenting the nature and progress of the war. While in-depth combat coverage and the instantaneous power of television were used to challenge the war, Clarence R. Wyatt demonstrates that, more often than not, the press reported official information, statements, and views. Examining the relationship between the press and the government, Wyatt looks at how difficult it was to obtain information outside official briefings, what sort of professional constraints the press worked under, and what happened when reporters chose not to "get on the team."

One cold November morning in Perser, Oklahoma, Sheriff Jerry Martin receives a disturbing call: a local fifteen-year-old has disappeared. The boy, J.T., who is half Mexican, half Chickasaw and has been raised by his grandmother, is known for starting trouble. Sheriff Martin sets out on a fevered search, determined to find J.T., even as the hunt reopens wounds from a traumatic event in his past. In a seemingly parallel but ultimately intersecting story, Hickson Crider, a veteran of the first Iraq war, discovers a mysterious crevice, perfectly round and seemingly bottomless, in his backyard. The hole becomes Hickson's obsession-and an ominous clue in Sheriff Martin's investigation.Aaron Gwyn's perceptive, quietly beautiful prose is "reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor" (Kirkus Reviews), engaging us in a tale that is both savage and burning with heart, about the after effects of war, violence, faith, and random acts of devotion.

Behind the scenes of Napoleon's threatened invasion of England, a war of wits known as "The Great Terror." In 1801, as Napoleon's Grande Armee faced an army of English volunteers across the Channel, a secret war of espionage and subversion was being fought by shadowy men with little-known names. New weaponsrockets, submarines, and torpedoeswere being developed in France by the American inventor Robert Fulton. Even during the lull of the Peace of Amiens, when English tourists flocked to Paris, the secret war continued. Drawing on diaries, letters, and newspapers, Tom Pocock provides a wonderful picture of the years 1801-5, and of the people caught up in these unique events: Nelson blockading the French at sea for two years while his beloved Emma Hamilton waited at home; Jane Austen and her naval brothers; the admirals, generals, and politicians on both sides; and perhaps most interesting of all, those lesser-known men such as Congreve, Moreau, and Pichegru, who were responsible for a new kind of warfare. 16 pages of b/w illustrations.