鈥淔IRST we got the Bomb and that was good, because we love peace and motherhood,鈥� sang the satirist Tom Lehrer in 1965. In Doomsday Men, a history of weapons of mass destruction 鈥� chemical, biological and nuclear 鈥� culture is as crucial as science. Militarised scientists like Fritz Haber and Edward Teller mesh with prophetic writings by H. G. Wells, sci-fi and the darkly comic film Dr Strangelove. Apparently President Truman was influenced to drop the bomb on Japan by Tennyson鈥檚 utopian poetry mixed with Jack London鈥檚 writings on the 鈥淵ellow Peril鈥�. A chillingly compelling, if sometimes repetitive read.
Doomsday Men
Allen Lane