Philip Taubman

Guys who helped shape the nuclear world, have a change of heart later and want to dismantle them. A heroic ideal. However, it sure seems like an impossible venture. Did enjoy the background of the major players. i was aware of all of them, but was not well versed in how accomplished they all are. The numbers of weapons and dollars spent on them are truly astounding (and wasteful). A shame. A lot more good could have come from all this money. And we are really now revamping the whole nuclear arsenal. Who are they going to be used against? oh yeah -no one.… (més)

This is the backstory of the development of the U-2 spy plane, the first US recon satellites and the political climate of the 1950's. It mostly covers the period from 1950 to 1960, with a little bit of time spent afterwards. It is very detailed in going over who was involved and some of the work behind both the U-2 and the Corona spy satellite. Surprisingly, both were administered by the CIA with almost no government oversight, which probably explains their success and modest budgets.
While I appreciated the information in this book, most of which I was not familiar with, it was a little drawn out. It would have been better in many places if it had been more concise.… (més)