Arsenals of Folly:: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race, Richard Rhodes

 

I'm currently reading "Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race" by Richard Rhodes, just a few quick thoughts::

::Amazed my that when Gorbachev and Regan meet in private. Regan had to use cue cards. ? beginning of Alzheimer's.

:: Regan was a man of contradictions. He was deeply religious, convinced of  Armageddon and End Times. Yet was happy for his son who worked for playboy as a writer to interview him.

:: Gorbachev was the master politician more so than anyone I know. He worked the Regan administration, more importantly he had the measure of the internal government of the Soviet Union. If he had not been there, I'm convinced there would have been a civil war or a Stalinist Regime. He is one of the major reasons for prosperity of Russia today.

:: I was surprised at how early on Regan provoked the Russians and how nearly they responded. This period was very similar to the Cuban missile crisis.

I thought that Richard Rhodes' making of the Atomic Bomb was great. This book I rate just as highly.