The Seventh Decade

From the bestselling author of "The Fate of the Earth," a provocative look at the urgent threat posed by America's new nuclear policies
When the cold war ended, many Americans believed the nuclear dilemma had ended with it. Instead, the bomb has moved to the dead center of foreign policy and even domestic scandal. From missing WMDs to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, nuclear matters are back on the front page.
In this provocative book, Jonathan Schell argues that a revolution in nuclear affairs has occurred under the watch of the Bush administration, including a historic embrace of a first-strike policy to combat proliferation. The administration has also encouraged a nuclear renaissance at home, with the development of new generations of such weaponry. Far from curbing nuclear buildup, Schell contends, our radical policy has provoked proliferation in Iran, North Korea, and elsewhere; exacerbated global trafficking in nuclear weapons; and taken the world into an era of unchecked nuclear terror. Incisive and passionately argued, The Seventh Decade offers essential insight into what may prove the most volatile decade of the nuclear age. Jonathan Schell, author of "The Unconquerable World" (0-8050-4467-4) and "The Fate of the Earth," among many other titles, is the Nation Institute's Harold Willens Peace Fellow. His "Letter from Ground Zero" column appears in "The Nation" regularly. He also writes for "Harper's," "The Atlantic Monthly," "Foreign Affairs," and "Tomdispatch.com." He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. When the Cold War ended, many Americans believed the nuclear dilemma had ended with it. Instead, the bomb has moved to the dead center of foreign policy and even domestic scandal. From missing WMDs to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, nuclear matters are back on the front page.
Jonathan Schell argues that a revolution in nuclear affairs has occurred under the watch of the Bush administration, including a historic embrace of a first-strike policy to combat proliferation. The administration has also encouraged a nuclear renaissance at home, with the development of new generations of such weaponry. Far from curbing nuclear buildup, Schell contends, our radical policy has provoked proliferation in Iran, North Korea, and elsewhere; exacerbated global trafficking in nuclear weapons; and taken the world into an era of unchecked nuclear terror. Incisive and well-argued, "The Seventh Decade" offers essential insight into what may prove the most volatile decade of the nuclear age.

"A passionately and cogently argued case for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons . . . Schell's careful assembly of the available evidence will scare the pants off most readers. And so it should."--Martin Walker, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Jonathan Schell has been warning us about the dangers of nuclear weapons since his seminal book, "The Fate of the Earth." "The Seventh Decade" shows how pressing this issue still is. Schell offers a provocative analysis of the current dangers and puts them in the context of history. It's a fascinating and important book."--Walter Isaacson, author of "Einstein: His Life and Universe
""Jonathan Schell, our chronicler as conscience, addresses the salient fact of the era--that amid the ultimate terror of nuclear weapons, Americans live under one of the most heedless and dangerous governments in history. Once again, Schell honors us with a profound warning. Our consummate shame is that we do nothing about it."--Roger Morris, author of "Taking Comfort
""Jonathan Schell has written a courageous book, a clarion call for the world to stop its drift toward 'nuclear anarchy'--which cannot occur absent a radical change in U. S. nuclear policy."--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of "The New American Militarism: How Americans are Seduced by War
""No voice is as clear, no mind is as sharp, and no writings about nuclear weapons have been as perceptive as Jonathan Schell's books and articles since 1982. Now, in "The Seventh Decade," Schell once again reveals in lucid prose the most inconvenient truth: the nuclear weapons policies of our government endanger our security, our planet and the very existence of our species. This is a book that every responsible voter should read before November 2008."--Martin J. Sherwin, Pulitzer prize-winning author of "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
""Veteran journalist Schell warns that the nuclear peril he described in "The Fate of the Earth" remains, in new and nasty forms. Readers expecting an update of his classic account of the terrible effects of atomic war will discover the author in a more philosophical mood here. The collapse of the USSR eliminated any need for nuclear arsenals, he avers, yet they are still with us, and additional nations are considering building their own. Discussing the peculiar fascination of atomic weapons, which is absent from other horrors such as germ warfare or poison gas, the author divides those who advocate them into three groups: nuclear realists, who consider the bomb a simple weapon of war; nuclear romantics, who look on it as a symbol of national honor; and nuclear Wilsonians (as in Woodrow Wilson), who yearn for a global institution to end war and believe that a nuclear arsenal qualifies. In Schell's view, these categories help explain bizarre behavior such as India's national outpouring of joy over its successful nuclear test and the United States's financing of a trillion-dollar fleet of nuclear submarines, which has been patrolling the seas for two decades despite the absence of a major threat. The author reserves his greatest criticism for followers of President Bush who combine all three of the above viewpoints and do not conceal their contempt for treaties and international institutions that hinder America's freedom of action. Bush's original reason for invading Iraq, Schell m