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Peggotty
May 9, 2014

TheFluff posted:

Cross-posting from the Cold War thread because I figure it's interesting to a general milhist crowd as well and there's not a 100% overlap between the two threads. It's maybe not milhist milhist but I figure civilian control over the military is definitely relevant here.

Anyway, Alex Wellerstein did an AMA on r/AskHistorians earlier today (the only part of reddit that is maybe not entirely garbage) and summarizes his new book, The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age, like this (bolding is mine):

Most of this is probably not news to those who have read Wellerstein's writings before (and especially not if you've already read his 2020 paper The Kyoto Misconception), but the whole Q&A thread is interesting and worth a look IMO. Among other things he recommends the recently released book Strange Stability: How Cold War Scientists Set Out to Control the Arms Race and Ended Up Serving the Military-Industrial Complex which I wasn't aware of but will have to check out.

Wellerstein's book releases December 9, and I'm really looking forward to it. Wellerstein is a great writer who manages to combine rigorous academic history writing with a narrative that keeps your interest and is downright enjoyable to read. You get to have both the fun and the footnotes!

Consider me "skeptical but interested", as he put it.

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