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American Arsenal: A Century of Waging War, by Patrick Coffey
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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 German air force. 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. Focusing on fifteen 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 of the men who invented and deployed them -Edward Teller, "the father of the hydrogen bomb", Robert Oppenheimer, head of atomic bomb design at Los Alamos; Curtis LeMay, who led the fire-bombing of Japan; Herman Kahn, nuclear strategist and a 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 continuing evolution of the U.S. defense program.
- Sales Rank: #1558952 in Books
- Published on: 2014-01-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.50" h x 1.20" w x 9.30" l, 1.25 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 336 pages
Review
"Patrick Coffey s American Arsenal: A Century of Waging War offers a brisk account of the development of key weapons and technologies, from poison gas to drones, in that arsenal. Many of his stories are fascinating, gruesome, even lurid, and some are largely unknown." --Los Angeles Review of Books
"Coffey delivers an interesting book that introduces the general reader to a little-known perspective on military history." --Publisher's Weekly
Praise 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
About the Author
Patrick Coffey is a Visiting Scholar in the Office for History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Cathedrals of Science.
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Engrossing, disturbing, and very readable
By Richard J. Leskosky
Patrick Coffey’s well-researched and well-written book provides an enlightening and unnerving look at the technology and the politics of American weaponry over the last century (from submarines and poison gas in World War I to today’s drones). Inventors, bureaucrats, scientists, politicians, and military brass are seen maneuvering here in pursuit of often conflicting goals and ideals as they seek to develop and deploy (or prevent the deployment of) various fearsome weapons systems. Coffey gives an unflinching account of the horrific efficacy of those weapons (or their potential, in the case of those that were developed but, like poison gas, not used) and a behind-the-scenes look at the refinements and the occasional literal and figurative misfires in their development. Those missteps occasionally introduce a wry undertone, such as when Coffey describes the Army’s disastrous tests in 1943 of a plan to attach incendiary bombs to bats and release them over Japanese cities. Readers who know about America’s armaments and their use only from government press releases or other sanitized accounts will find particularly sobering, among other revelations, just how much more destructive American fire bombings were on Japanese cities than the atomic bombs dropped there and the ever-expanding definition of strategic targets that translates into lost civilian lives. Despite these grim details, though, American Arsenal is eminently readable and engrossing.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Interesting and well-written.
By James Colbert
This book has a wealth of fascinating information for anyone (like me) who is interested in the subject matter, and it presents that information in a well-written narrative spiced with wry observations on the often perverse actions of the soldiers, scientists and politicians who have guided (and sometimes misguided) our nation's military decisions. Anyone with an interest in the military history of the 20th century will enjoy this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
An Excellent Review of 20th Century Weapons Systems
By Bernard Percarpio
For WWI and WWII history fans, this book adds an essential element to these complicated conflicts. The chapters on the development of the Norden bombsight and Napalm are especially detailed and complete. The author excels, however, in his description of the people behind these weapons systems. Curtis LeMay is shown to be less the crazy general, as depicted in the popular press of the 1960's and 1970's and more of a warrior dedicated to winning any conflict. Glenn Seaborg and Edward Teller are revealed to be intelligent men but far too interested in celebrity and recognition. Patrick Coffey has written a fine addition to any military history collection.
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