|
Apocalypse Never
Price (paper): $21.95
Price (cloth): $24.95
Subtitle: Forging the Path to a
Nuclear Weapon-Free World
Author:
Tad Daley
Subject: Public
Policy,
International, Current Affairs
Paper ISBN: 978-0-8135-5352-8
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8135-4661-2
Pages: 288 pages
Publication Date: May 2010
Book Reviews for Apocalypse Never
Former CIA nuclear nonproliferation operative Valerie Plame and former Ambassador Joe Wilson (played by Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the film Fair Game), for the FireDogLake online book salon:
"Apocalypse Never is a frightening book to read but impossible to put down. In
clear, accessible prose, Tad Daley unblinkingly lays out the case, point by point for why we must ultimately rid the world of nuclear weapons or else suffer the
inevitable consequences of the end of civilization as we know it … Daley then takes
on the task of showing how this seemingly Herculean task can be accomplished, even
within our lifetimes. It is compelling and accurate in its assessments and one of the absolute best out there..."
Link to the review
Charles Ferguson, President of the Federation of American Scientists
(FAS), a physicist and nuclear engineer, and author of Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know from Oxford University Press, for the FAS quarterly Public Interest Report:
"Even many skeptics of nuclear disarmament would likely grok with the arguments made by Tad Daley in his well-written Apocalypse Never . ... He endeavors to demonstrate
that nuclear disarmament is not science fiction. ... shines a spotlight on hubris
and nuclear weapons ... uncovers the toughest hurdle for disarmament ... and compels
readers to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons."
Link to the review
Anne Penketh, former diplomatic editor for the UK Independent and foreign correspondent for Agence France-Presse and currently Program Director for the British/American Security Information Council (BASIC):
"If you have a nuclear addiction, Dr. Tad Daley has the cure. ... Two things
distinguish this work ... Daley's chatty style, which ... renders his book
accessible to the general public ... (and) his prescription for reaching global
zero, through his detailed description of the architecture of a nuclear weapon-free
world founded on a legally binding treaty that would replace the NPT."
Link to the review
Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a frequent CNN nuclear talking head, and author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons from Columbia University Press, for The Nation:
"Daley hammers away at this enduring strategic reality (of America's nuclear hypocrisy) ... Normalizing the goal of zero nuclear weapons will put us on the path to a safer world ... Daley's book is a worthy contribution to this effort."
Link to the review
More Book Reviews for Apocalypse Never
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
Audio/Visual for Apocalypse Never
90 minute video of Tad Daley speaking at the Washington DC headquarters of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist community, arguing that a world without nuclear weapons can set us on the road to a world without war, and even a world without armies.
40 Minute Radio Interview of Tad Daley by Jerome McDonnell on Chicago Public Radio
1 Hour Video of Tad Daley speaking at the International House at Columbia University
1 Hour Audio of Tad Daley and Dr. Helen Caldicott on the Radio: (http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=4021)
20 Min AUDIO OF TAD DALEY AND GARY NULL ON THE RADIO:(http://thegarynullshow.podbean.com/mf/web/2w5hez/GaryNullShow110310EDIT.mp3)
8 Min VIDEO OF TAD DALEY INTRODUCING "COUNTDOWN TO ZERO" FILM TO D.C. THEATREGOERS: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhNLEywRl3)
Praise for Apocalypse Never
"Tad Daley has performed
a truly rare feat. He doesn't offer the same tired survey of Iran
and North Korea and the contemporary nuclear landscape. Instead, he
convinces the reader completely that the only possible solution to the
threat of nuclear annihilation is the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Moreover, he actually charts a course for how we might get from here to
there. Mr. Daley is an elegant writer, and his wonderful first book
will enable both experts and regular folks to see, breathe, and believe
in the dawn of a nuclear weapon-free world."
—Daniel Ellsberg, former
State Department and Defense Department official and author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the
Pentagon Papers
“Apocalypse Never is an important
and path-breaking book. Tad Daley doesn’t just look at why we should
strive to eliminate nuclear weapons, he demonstrates how to make it
happen. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how
to turn a
grand vision into a political reality.”
—John Podesta, President and
CEO, Center for American Progress; White House Chief of Staff to
President Bill Clinton
“My film Apocalypse Now revealed how war
corrupts the human soul. But the idea that we can have peace only
through ‘nuclear deterrence’ degrades our entire civilization. With Apocalypse Never, Tad Daley shows
us the path of escape.”
—Martin Sheen, The
West Wing, Apocalypse Now;
Golden Globe-Award and Emmy-Award Winning Actor
“In plain, understandable prose, Apocalypse Never makes a compelling
case that the continued existence of nuclear weapons, regardless of
their ownership, can lead to catastrophic disasters. A must-read.”
—Lt.
General Robert G. Gard, Jr., (U.S. Army, Retired) and chair, Center for
Arms Control & Non-Proliferation
“Few Americans know that
more than forty years ago, in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, our
country committed to eliminate its entire nuclear arsenal. In Apocalypse Never, Tad Daley traces
the tortured history of this promise—and charts a course toward at last
fulfilling it.”
—Michael Douglas, Wall
Street, The China
Syndrome; Academy-Award Winning Actor; United Nations Messenger
of Peace.
“For those of us who
think that freeing the planet from the specter of nuclear holocaust is
the most important task before humankind, but also one that’s nearly
impossible to achieve, Tad Daley has drawn us a roadmap for the journey
ahead. It demands no wild leaps of faith, no suspensions of disbelief.
Mixing political sobriety with existential urgency and just plain damn
good writing, Daley shows us the way.”
—Harold Meyerson, columnist, The Washington Post and
editor-at-large, The American
Prospect
“Finally, a book that explains in common sense language the process for
bringing a nuclear weapon–free world from utopia to
reality.”
—Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, 1997–present
“Tad Daley takes a penetrating look at the threat President Barack
Obama calls ‘the gravest danger to the American people,’ and does so
with clarity and integrity. Apocalypse
Never details how the failed
policies of the past have made the nuclear threat worse and how the
only real solution is to move steadily towards eliminating the only
weapons that can destroy the world. We would be wise to listen.”
—Joseph
Cirincione, president, The Ploughshares Fund and author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of
Nuclear Weapons
“Americans have ignored
two facts about nuclear weapons that Tad Daley brilliantly illuminates
in historical perspective. First are the consequences of what J. Robert
Oppenheimer called our use of atomic bombs against ‘an essentially
defeated enemy.’ Second is our responsibility for promoting nuclear
deterrence as a legitimate policy. We are thus largely responsible for
the threat that nuclear weapons pose to the continued survival of
humanity, and we are the only nation capable of successfully leading an
effort to abolish nuclear weapons. Can we do it? Yes we can, and Apocalypse
Never shows us how.”
—Martin J. Sherwin, University Professor of
History, George Mason
University; author of A World
Destroyed and coauthor of American
Prometheus, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“While spiritual progressives seek to end all war, a major step is to
end the threat of nuclear war. Tad Daley shows us that this is actually
within our grasp, and an imperative for the survival of our planet and
life itself.”
—Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun
and chair, Interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives
“Tad Daley makes a compelling
case for eliminating nuclear weapons now, before they are used
intentionally by a terrorist group or accidentally by a nuclear-armed
nation. The weight of the evidence supplied in Apocalypse Never leads
to an inescapable conclusion: the fewer nuclear weapons there are, the
safer we all will be. And it makes it clear that our ultimate security
depends on getting rid of these terrible weapons once and for all.”
—William D. Hartung, New America Foundation and coeditor of Lessons from Iraq: Preventing the Next War
More
praise for Apocalypse Never
Description:
Apocalypse Never
illuminates why we must abolish nuclear weapons, how we can, and what
the world will look like after we do. The twenty-first century has
ushered in a world at the
atomic edge. The pop culture days of Dr.
Strangelove have been replaced by the all-too-real single day of
24.
Tad Daley has written a book for the general reader about this most
crucial of contemporary challenges.
Apocalypse
Never maintains that the abolition of nuclear weapons is both
essential
and achievable, and reveals in fine detail what we need to do—both
governments and movements—to make it a reality. Daley insists that
while global climate change poses the single greatest long-term peril
to the human race, the nuclear challenge in its many
incarnations—nuclear terror, nuclear accident, a nuclear crisis
spinning out of control— poses the single most immediate peril. Daley
launches a wholesale assault on the nuclear double standard—the notion
that the United States permits itself thousands of these weapons but
forbids others from aspiring to even one—insisting that it is
militarily unnecessary, morally indefensible, and politically
unsustainable. He conclusively repudiates the most frequent objection
to nuclear disarmament, “the breakout scenario”—the possibility that
after
abolition someone might whip back the curtain, reveal a dozen nuclear
warheads, and proceed to “rule the world.”
On the wings of a brand new era in American history, Apocalypse Never makes the case
that a comprehensive nuclear policy agenda from President Obama, one
that fully integrates nonproliferation with disarmament, can both
eliminate immediate nuclear dangers and set us irreversibly on the road
to abolition. In jargon-free language, Daley explores the possible
verification measures, enforcement mechanisms, and governance
structures of a nuclear weapon–free world. Most importantly, he
decisively argues that universal nuclear disarmament is something we
can transform from a utopian fantasy into a concrete political goal.
About the Author:
Tad
Daley, J.D., Ph.D., was educated at Knox College, the University of
Illinois, the University of Southampton in England, the RAND/UCLA
Center for Soviet Studies and the RAND Graduate School of Policy
Studies. He spent several years as a member of the International Policy
Department at RAND, where many of the nuclear theories of the Cold War
era originally were forged. He has served as a speechwriter and policy
advisor to Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congresswoman Diane Watson, and
the late Senator Alan Cranston -- and once ran for U.S. Congress
himself to represent mid-city Los Angeles. The LA WEEKLY said about his
campaign: “Tad Daley boasts the most impressive credentials and much
the most thoughtful platform of all the 16 candidates in the race ….
(His ideas are) as sensible as they are unconventional.”
Tad Daley has written for the International
Herald Tribune, the Los
Angeles Times, USA TODAY,
the Christian Science Monitor,
the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, The Forward (national Jewish
newspaper), the LA City Beat,
the LA Jewish Journal, The Tidings
(Southern California’s Catholic newspaper), the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
the United Nations Chronicle,
the Foreign Service Journal,
the Humanist, the Futurist, Tikkun, and quite frequently in the
blogosphere at HuffingtonPost.com,
TruthDig.com,
AlterNet.org,
TruthOut.org,
and CommonDreams.org. His
world vision is perhaps best captured by the late 1995 Nobel Peace
laureate Joseph Rotblat, who told Tad, "My short term ambition is to
abolish nuclear weapons. My long term ambition is to abolish war
itself."
For more
information about Tad Daley, including
published articles, upcoming appearances, lots of photos and
contact
information, please visit www.daleyplanet.org

Author Photo by Sally
Aristei, www.seesallyshoot.com
Receive
special offers and book notices by email. Sign up for RU READING?
Price (paper): $21.95
Price (cloth): $24.95
|