Tickling the Dragon's Tail: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Scientists in the Nuclear Age

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Jeffrey Kaplan

Tickling the Dragon's Tail

Name: Tickling the Dragon's Tail
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ISBN: 9798992810912

Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Scientists in the Nuclear Age

Jeffrey Kaplan

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English

Tempkin Press
15 December 2025

Military history; Chemical & biological weapons; Nuclear weapons

Why is the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before?

In Tickling the Dragon's Tail, readers are taken deep inside the political and military decisions that have shaped our nuclear age. From the bombing of Hiroshima to near-catastrophes like the Cuban Missile Crisis and a NATO exercise that almost triggered World War III, this gripping history uncovers the hidden motivations and power struggles behind America's atomic policy.

With chilling clarity and meticulous research, Kaplan reveals how the United States used the quest for nuclear supremacy to shape global politics and foreign relations-often at staggering risk.

Readers will discover disturbing truths, including:

Why top U.S. generals believed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unnecessary.

The U.S. spared six Japanese cities from its devastating conventional bombing campaign so they would be available as targets for the atomic bomb.

How the U.S. made nuclear threats at least 25 times since WW II.

The unsettling authority local commanders have to launch nuclear attacks.

And how America's quest to be the ""world's sole superpower"" fuels today's growing nuclear danger.

This book is a sobering call to reexamine the forces that brought us to the brink-and continue to steer us toward a perilous future.

By: Jeffrey Kaplan
Imprint: Tempkin Press
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 340g
ISBN: 9798992810912
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 15 December 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jeffrey L. Kaplan is a historian whose work on American history has been featured in several academic and literary collections, including Sustainability: A Bedford Spotlight Reader (Bedford/St. Martin's), Poverty & Race in America: The Emerging Agendas (Rowman & Littlefield), and The Future of Nature: Writing on a Human Ecology (Milkweed Editions).

Reviews for Tickling the Dragon's Tail: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Scientists in the Nuclear Age

""A haunting, involving retelling of American nuclear ambitions."" -Kirkus Review ""A fascinating, insightful look at aspects of the history of nuclear weapons that are often ignored. . . . No one who reads this book will look at the nuclear threat the same way."" -Daniel Ellsberg, author of The Doomsday Machine and whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers ""An extremely important book."" -Peter Dale Scott, author of The American Deep State and The Road to 9/11