American Arsenal - Patrick Coffey

American Arsenal
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Autor: Patrick Coffey

 Wydawnictwo: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199959747
EAN:
Format: ...
Oprawa: twarda
Stron: 304
Data wydania: 2014-04-01
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When America declared war on Germany in 1917, the United States had only 200,000 men under arms, a twentieth of the German army's strength, and its planes were no match for the Luftwaffe. Less than a century later, the United States today has by far the world's largest military budget and provides over 40% of the world's armaments. In American Arsenal Patrick Coffey examines America's military transformation from an isolationist state to a world superpower with a defense budget over $600 billion. Focusing on sixteen specific developments, Coffey illustrates the unplanned, often haphazard nature of this transformation, which has been driven by political, military, technological, and commercial interests. Beginning with Thomas Edison's work on submarine technology, American Arsenal moves from World War I to the present conflicts in the Middle East, covering topics from chemical weapons, strategic bombing, and the nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union, to "smart" bombs, hand-held anti-aircraft missiles, and the Predator and other drone aircrafts. Coffey traces the story of each advance in weaponry from drawing board to battlefield, and includes fascinating portraits the men who invented and deployed them-Robert Oppenheimer, head of the Manhattan Project; Curtis LeMay, who sent the Enola Gray to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Herman Kahn, nuclear strategist and model for Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove; Abraham Karem, inventor of the Predator and many others. Coffey also examines the increasingly detached nature of modern American warfare-the ultimate goal is to remove soldiers from the battlefield entirely-which limits casualties (211,454 in Vietnam and only 1,231 in the Gulf War) but also lessens the political and psychological costs of going to war. Examining the backstories of every major American weapons development, American Arsenal is essential reading for anyone interested in the ongoing evolution of the U.S. defense program. "Coffey delivers an interesting book that introduces the general reader to a little-known perspective on military history." -Publisher's WeeklyPraise for Patrick Coffey's Cathedrals of Science"Weaving together the lives of the leaders of modern chemistry, Coffey shows how fights over priority, backstabbing, cronyism, and grudges shaped the history of chemistry just as much as the actual discoveries. It is an effective antidote to the bromide that science is the work of selfless, Spock-like automatons."--Books and Culture"A gripping page-turning narrative that elegantly combines popular science with a serious history of science."--Chemistry World"This superbly crafted book traces the intertwined careers of scientific Titans whose work, despite human failings, created major parts of the conceptual edifice of modern physical science. It is a grand saga, as illuminating for our era as the Canterbury Tales are for the age that erected great masonry cathedrals."--Dudley Herschbach, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry"[Coffey's] book zeroes in on how the military has helped to transform America, from the growing pains of World War I up through today... impressive in its focus. With a 'behind-the-scenes' approach to many war-related and political topics and extensively researched... it brings fresh perspective and information to a topic that is sometimes overlooked. " --Tony Bandy, History Writing with Tony

Książka "American Arsenal"
Patrick Coffey