Book illuminates how U.S. uses nuclear weapons to dominate the world

Edited by Paul Chen

Empire and the Bomb by Joseph Gerson documents that "the United States is the only country to have dropped the atomic bomb. Since the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, every U.S. president has threatened nuclear war."

This concise history shows how the U.S. has used nuclear weapons to bolster its imperial ambitions. Leading nuclear specialist and peace campaigner Joseph Gerson explains why atomic weapons were first built and used -- and how the U.S. uses them today to preserve its global empire. Gerson reveals how and why the U.S. made more than twenty threats of nuclear attack during the Cold War -- against Russia, China, Vietnam, and the Middle East. He shows how such theats continued under Presidents Bush and Clinton, and George W. Bush.

The book concludes with an appeal for nuclear weapons abolition and an overview of the history of the anti-nuclear movement. Drawing from a wide range of sources, this fascinating and timely account shows how the U.S. has used nuclear weapons to dominate the world.

"As Americans, we need to face up to our own reliance on nuclear intimidation. This is an important book for Americans of all political stripes to read." says Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire.

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